Daughter of Venice Book

Almost 4 stars...

This book went in a different, better direction than I expected from what looked to be a typical YA story: adolescent 16th century noblewoman chafes under her restrictive lot, dresses as a boy to experience life more fully, finds enlightenment.

This book was better than I expected for 3 main reasons.

1. Family. The author paints a picture of upper class Venetian family life that is full of genuine affection, interest and vitality. Donata, the heroine, is one of 12 children. It is no mean feat for an author to create 12 distinctive child characters in a book as short as this one, but she pulls it off. Donata's respect for her parents and concern for her family's honour is also unexpectedly deep.
2. Rebellion or reform? It seems that the Venetian patriarchal system was a really terrible one. According to this book, typically only one son and one daughter from each noble family was permitted to marry and raise children, so that the family inheritance (split by law between each son) would not be dissipated over the course of generations. This of course contributed to a massive problem with prostitution and illegitimacy. It was easy to sympathise with Donata's many disappointments and her resentments against such an unjust social structure. What surprised me was that while it seemed for part of the book that everything was building towards her chucking a big old tanty and getting as far away from the whole rotten mess as she could (understandable), the resolution took a far less modern, individualistic turn and one that was much more believable and satisfying, to me at least. I don't want to spoil it, but essentially the author took the heroine in a more reformist direction. Since I believe that lawful reform, not revolution, is the Christian way to transform rotten cultures from the inside out, I really appreciated this resolution.
3. Women. Finally, I appreciated the author took the opportunity to emphasise (alongside the terrible injustices) the many clever ways that wise women have found to influence and contribute to governance and culture, even in profoundly restrictive societies such as 16th century Venice.