Changes

Alvise Marangon is an artist 'resting' between commissions and so using his guile and enterprise as a tour guide to those taking the European Grand Tour in 18th century Venice. Everything has a business as usual feel to it for Alvise until he notices a fellow gondolier paying his friend not to take a couple of English tourists. Then, as the new Doge is inaugurated a man's head is thrown into the crowd. Showing people around a typical Venice is becoming increasingly hard for Alvise – Venice is not behaving typically!

Why lucky? His love of the city and its past has been translated into a novel which occupies a place and era we don't see a lot of on our historical fiction shelves, voiced by a narrator I would take to the pub any time… as long as I was wearing a crash helmet and stab vest! Alvise may be enterprising and quick thinking but he increasingly finds himself in some tricky situations. (Where we're concerned, for 'tricky' read 'exciting'!)