In this historical novel, an Italian girl navigates her engagement to a mysterious man in 1490s Venice.
Caterina never really knew her mother, so she is used to a life ruled by her father, Ludovico, and her nurse, Nonna. She is betrothed to Ariosto, a cruel man who is many years her senior. When Ariosto is lost at sea, Ludovico seeks new suitors for Caterina. Meanwhile, Rade, a Slavic man more accustomed to violence than finery, wins a letter written by Ludovico about finding a suitor in a card game. Rade makes his way to Venice, believing he is fated to be with Caterina. He employs a man to make a skinlike mask for him to wear to hide his scarred face. But once Ludovico agrees to Rade’s lengthy betrothal to Caterina, he finds he must wear the mask all the time. He is enamored with Caterina, though he has a rival: the dashing Alessandro, a young man with whom she is falling in love. The competition heats up between the two men, with Rade’s jealousy potentially pushing Caterina away. Later, Rade finds himself dealing with the execution of a friend and his discovery of Caterina and Alessandro alone together. Grant’s prose is excellent—it is evident throughout the engrossing story that she has a sharp style and knows how to skillfully set a scene, toeing a fine line between descriptive and overwrought: “Finally, as suddenly as it had come, the shoal turned and faded away into the limitless gray of the horizon….Fortune is a woman, thought Rade. Would that it were so.” The author’s characters are similarly well defined. Through Rade, readers see a life hardened by violence and the fear of rejection, which necessitates wearing a mask. Additionally, Rade’s deepening affection for Caterina is especially engaging. As for the other characters, Grant effectively balances her cast with intriguing minor players, including Rade’s sensual “teacher,” Rosa, and his former second-in-command, Vuk. But there are some moments that feel superfluous or that cause the tale to drag a bit. Though the betrothal is meant to be long, it sometimes seems as if Rade and Caterina spend a lot of time apart. The story would have benefited from more scenes with the two protagonists.
An enjoyable betrothal tale in a vivid historical setting.
Watch a man in times of adversity to discover what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off.
― Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura
“Of them all, I'd marry Eliduc,” she said, pulling at the embroidery she'd managed to sew by error to the part hanging from the frame. “Or Tristan. Or Lancelot.” Nonna stared at her.
“Couldn't you pick one who wasn't an adulterer?”
“They were faithful to the women they loved. And besides, they were heroes.”
“Whatever happened to Aeneas? Or Achilles?”
“They weren't knights,” said Caterina, finally separating the two pieces of cloth. “I'm only interested in knights.”
In a very artistic and masterful way, Ms Grant brings the Italian Renaissance and some undiscovered Slavic and Venetian history to life within this story which is quite unexpected. Throughout the narrative, with the insertion of ancient philosophical and poetic quotes to begin the chapters, the story feels very Shakespearean at times, as if this story developed from one of his Italian plays, such as “The Merchant of Venice” or “Romeo and Juliet," yet Ms Grant's voice comes across as unique and refreshing, not to mention stunning at times.
“If I'd been born a man,” replied Caterina stormily, “my very birth would decide my place in society. I'd be fixed there like a mollusk on a mooring pole. You'd be forced to accept me as I am.” She steeled herself to remain calm. “In being born a woman, and born into wealth,” she said bitterly, “I find I am nothing but a pawn.” She laid her palms on the front edge of his desk, the cloak framing her rich dress in wool and fur, a dark bird with a plum-colored breast. “Father, I am all there is of you. Assign me the dignity of your patrimony. Try to imagine me as your son.”
Straightaway the reader is introduced to Caterina and Rade, back and forth between chapters, until merging together as their lives entwine. Caterina, at first, is a child already betrothed to an elderly man (Ariosto), and shows her willfulness when she balks at the union. Her father, a wealthy Venetian merchant, is determined to see her well-married. Yet fate plays a hand throughout this novel, and Caterina is saved from the union, only to face a plethora of other suitors after her father sends out letters far and wide inviting them to his home. One of the letters, quite unexpectedly, falls into a Slavic man, Rade's hands. Reading the chapters of his life, the reader becomes quickly attached to him, following him as he endures brutality in the Balkans, emerging as a Capitano on a ship, and acquiring the letter during a card game. The words of the letter seal his fate, words reflecting Caterina's belief that a man's soul is reflected in the beauty of his face, thus sending Rade on a quest for her hand. But first, he pays a master artisan to construct a skin-like mask to conceal the scars on his face and to hide his true self to begin a new life away from his thieving and violent days.
“Here is your first art lesson.” He picked up some impurities out of the mixture and looked up. “If you were to turn over a painted panel, a portrait, you might see a mask on the verso. Or you might see one in a detail. Or in a carving. That mask is the symbol of false dreams.... Behind the mask, you become equal to people who are not your equals.”
Before long, he finds himself ingratiated into Venetian life and betrothed to Caterina, yet the mask, which at first was a temporary disguise, becomes a part of Rade's life as he hides behind the veil, not realizing that a sort of “mask” hides his heart, as well. Yet, Caterina is searching for a beauty which she at first does not recognize, being so young and naive. It is this naivety which prevents a connection between them, and as her Nonna says to Rade that she gives compassion to him the same way she would to a dog. As time passes, and as Caterina's interests turn to a charismatic, handsome young man named Alessandro, Rade begins to question the path he has taken to not only win Caterina's heart but to try to transform his former life. Yet, again, fate steps in and not only reveal Alessandro for his true self, but Caterina and Rade transform into fully mature and responsible adults... ones with an unveiled understanding of love, sacrifice, honor, and most of all, truth. Both of them, ultimately, lay everything on the line in order to unmask their hearts and all the pain, loss, and beliefs, and leave the decision for both of their futures in each other's hands.
The real shock lay not so much in what was different but rather in what ways it was the same. The mask had represented more than purity of profile and beauty of appearance; it had portrayed, in a malevolence all its own, that, which given other circumstances, he might have been. She thought that, in all this time, he could not have realized it, and continued the disguise.
The crafting of this story, the world-building is truly immense, and the research the author has done shines like a beacon throughout the storyline. It is obvious Ms Grant is an expert in15th-century Balkan and Venetian history and culture. Yet the history is melded with finesse with intriguing characters displaying all the human emotions of love, jealousy, compassion, frailty, rejection, forgiveness, self-doubt, and the desire to break free from society's standards of the time period. While lengthy and sometimes perplexing in the flow of some of the passages or scenes (sometimes having to re-read two and three times to understand what was happening), the way the story develops and seeing these characters emerge from their cocoons is well worth the time and effort needed to finish the novel. Ms Grant is to be commended for such an outstanding job. This is a remarkable feat of accomplishment.
She lingered, realizing for perhaps the first time, the exquisite beauty of this small enclosure of the natural world, its roses, tree, herbs, grasses and tiny flowers, its canopy of azure sky, the intermittent passage of birds, its lazy airs with a taste of salt – knowing that what she did on this day, in this hour, would define this space forever. It would define her forever. That she held the fate of another human being in her hands. A very human being who was blood and bone and flesh, and could be broken. Was willing to be broken. And that she sat in the seat of Justice with the scales in her hand and her words would add the defining weight.
*****
“Mask of Dreams” by Leigh Grant receives five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence from The Historical Fiction Company
