-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
The highly anticipated new standalone novel from Martin Cruz Smith is a suspenseful World War II love story set against the beauty, mystery, and danger of occupied Venice.
Venice, 1945. The war may be waning, but the city known as La Serenissima is still occupied and the people of Italy fear the power of the Third Reich. One night, under a canopy of stars, a fisherman named Cenzo comes across a young woman's body floating in the lagoon and soon discovers that she is still alive and in trouble.
Born to a wealthy Jewish family, Giulia is on the run from the Wehrmacht SS. Cenzo chooses to protect Giulia rather than hand her over to the Nazis. This act of kindness leads them into the world of Partisans, random executions, the arts of forgery and high explosives, Mussolini's broken promises, the black market and gold, and, everywhere, the enigmatic maze of the Venice Lagoon.
The Girl from Venice is a thriller, a mystery, and a retelling of Italian history that will take your breath away. Most of all it is a love story.
"This is a thoughtful and engrossing novel with more than enough action to keep the pages turning." - Kirkus
"Smith does something quite remarkable here, smoothly blending a fascinating glimpse of Italy in war-ending chaos with a rich-girl -poor-boy romance that draws on fairy tales (think Beauty and the Beast, though Cenzo cleans up nicely) and classic rom-com (an edgier Roman Holiday). Even Renko devotees won't mind putting down their vodka for a sip of refreshing prosecco." - Booklist
"Capture, escape, a hoard of stolen gold, a forger, and a Swiss movie producer add action and passion to the novel's unexpected plot twists, and its most satisfying conclusion." - Publishers Weekly
"This stand-alone novel may appeal more to historical fiction fans than readers of Smith's (Tatiana) espionage thrillers." - Library Journal
This information about The Girl from Venice was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Martin Cruz Smith was born in Pennsylvania in 1942. He is an American mystery novelist. He earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964.
Cruz Smith first burst onto the literary landscape with his critically acclaimed Gorky Park, which went on to become an international bestseller. He is also the author of Stallion Gate, Nightwing, Polar Star, Stalin's Ghost, Rose, December 6, Tatiana, The Girl from Venice, and The Siberian Dilemma. He is a two-time winner of the Hammett Prize, a recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award and Britain's Golden Dagger Award, and a winner of the Premio Piemonte Giallo Internazionale. He lives in California.
Link to Martin Cruz Smith's Website
Name Pronunciation
Martin Cruz Smith: krooz-smith
If you liked The Girl from Venice, try these:
by Vincenzo Latronico
Published 2022
A scathing, provocative novel about contemporary existence by a rising star in Italian literature.
by Benet Brandreth
Published 2019
Shakespeare in Love meets C. J. Sansom in a historical thriller with a swashbuckling twist - and a hero as you've never seen him before.
by Martin Seay
Published 2017
Set in three cities in three eras, The Mirror Thief calls to mind David Mitchell and Umberto Eco in its mix of entertainment and literary bravado.
L.A. Women by Ella Berman
Two ambitious writers in 1960s LA face betrayal when one writes a novel based on the other's life.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
