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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780871139801
ISBN number: 0871139804
Label: Atlantic Monthly Press
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: May 13, 2008
Publishing house: Atlantic Monthly Press
Sale Popularity Level: 13075
Studio: Atlantic Monthly Press
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries have won legions of fans for their evocative portraits of Venetian life. In her novels, food, family, art, history, and local politics play as central a role as an unsolved crime. In The Girl of His Dreams when a friend of Brunetti’s brother, a priest recently returned from years of missionary work, calls with a request, Brunetti suspects the man’s motives. A new, American-style Protestant sect has begun to meet in the city, and it’s possible the priest is merely apprehensive of the competition. But the preacher could also be fleecing his growing flock, so Brunetti and Paola, along with Inspector Vianello and his wife, go undercover.
But the investigation has to be put aside when, one cold and rainy morning, a body is found floating in a canal. It is a child, a gypsy girl. Brunetti suspects she fell off a nearby roof while fleeing an apartment she had robbed. He has to inform the distrustful parents, encamped on the mainland, and soon finds himself haunted by the crime--and the girl. Thought-provoking, eye-opening, and profoundly moving, The Girl of His Dreams is classic Donna Leon, a spectacular, heart-wrenching addition to the series.
Amazon.com Review:
Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Reading The Girl of His Dreams leaves you no choice but to reconsider what makes a mystery novel so good. Certainly there's no denying the appeal of a hard-boiled crime story, where more often than not a brilliant yet battered P.I. drives you white-knuckled to the edge of your seat, but Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti--at once exactingly inquisitive and disarmingly sensitive--bucks that genre convention entirely. Here, in Leon's seventeenth Brunetti mystery, is a man who investigates the tragic drowning of a young Gypsy girl relentlessly, yet--in his thoughtful meanderings through the streets and cafes of Venice--also struggles to understand the human warps and weaknesses that make his beloved city so vulnerable. In the end, it's this pure love and curiosity for life (and, I admit, his lusty appreciation of daily luxuries like prosecco, good coffee, or a burst of sunshine) that make Brunetti such a seductive hero--so much so that you're willing to follow him wherever he goes. --Anne Bartholomew
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Rated by buyers 
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Let me preface this by admitting that I am a huge fan of these novels. The characters are very human but still interesting. This novel is both disquieting and fascinating, particularly in light of current events and troubles in Italy. I think this is one of the better and heart-wrenching novels in this series.
Rated by buyers 
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The title of this book is not what a reader would expect. Rather than being a romantic fantasy, Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venetian police force is haunted by the sight of a very young girl whose body is found floating in the Grand Canal. A slightly built child of about 11 years has either fallen or been pushed from the roof of an apartment building, probably after breaking into one of the apartments. She is found to be a gypsy, living with her parents in a gypsy encampment outside the city. Several small pieces of jewellery which are identified by the apartment owner are found concealed internally and, to Brunetti's horror and distress, she is also found to be infected with a venereal disease. The usually peaceful life of the Brunetti's is severely interrupted by this tragic find and their peace of mind takes a terrible shaking as they trace the lives of this child and her family. This is another fine piece of writing by Donna Leon, making the reader feel quite at home in the mysterious city of Venice and I'm already eagerly anticipating her subsequent Brunetti novel.
Rated by buyers 
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I've read most of this series with great enjoyment, but this one is below the standard she has set for herself. The novel doesn't hang together--the mother's funeral takes up a lot of space but doesn't really lead anywhere. Ditto the side story about the priest, old friend of Sergio. A lot of print for very little understanding of characters or action. The main story could have been interesting, but all of the characters are cardboard figures. Even Paola and Guido seem to be lacking in their usual zest--the food isn't even interesting. I will admit to possibly having a jaded palate, due to reading this right after reading two fabulous books by Sicilian (mystery) writer Andrea Camilleri. Still, I think Leon has done much, much better.
Rated by buyers -
Will hold your interest. Always a suspense ending by the Commissario!
Enjoy!
Rated by buyers -
If my expectations of Donna Leon's books weren't so high, I would have given this one 5 stars. It's very good - not up to the level of the very first few but very good.
Leon's writing does such an excellent job evoking the spirit of Venice, and over the course of this series she's provided so much detail into the thoughts and feelings (and eating/drinking habits) of many of these characters that they've become as familiar as family members. She seems incapable lately of avoiding heavy-handed moral lessons (in this case, the plight of the Gypsies) but it doesn't detract from the story in this case to the extent that it has in some of her previous efforts.
All in all, highly recommended, but if you're starting as a new reader of Leon go with the early novels first.
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