From Publishers Weekly
Walker's debut of love, loss, renewal, art and history is set in a sensually realized Venice and follows the physical and emotional wanderings of an unfulfilled wife. While on tour with her famous musician husband, Nel Everett abruptly leaves him after a fight. She ends up solo in Venice, and after a roundabout introduction involving a runaway dog Nel rescues, Nel falls in with Signora Lucrezia da Isola, a countess living in a centuries-old palazzo. The palazzo was once a convent, and the recent discovery of a fresco hidden beneath a plaster wall has brought to the palazzo a coterie of competitive art experts bent on determining who painted the fresco. Nel, meanwhile, is intrigued by a small painting in her room. A trunk discovered in the attic provides evidence that leads Nel and an art conservationist to differing conclusions about who is responsible for the artworks. As the mystery unravels, Nel begins to reassess her marriage and regain some independence. Walker's prose can come across like she's straining to write capital-L literature, but that likely won't scare off the book groups.
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Review
“Walker’s debut novel is an intriguing mix of romance, art history, and mystery.”
–Booklist
“This intriguing debut novel quickly charms the reader into a magical world…”
–Library Journal
“A Stopover in Venice is radiant with mystery, romance and history. Nel Everett, in the tradition of Americans abroad, is transformed by the enigmatic city and its alluring characters–both living and dead. Nel–subtle, perceptive, and witty–in flight from a suffocating marriage, discovers the elusiveness of understanding the present, as well as the past, in this brilliant novel of retracing and discovery.”
–Susanna Moore, author of The Big Girls and In the Cut
Kathryn Walker’s beautifully written story of parallel discovery and restoration is powered by searing insights into the costs of love and loss. Longing leads to the recognition of the “mysterious gifts concealed in the dark folds of pain." The results are joyous.”
–Amy Hempel, author of Reasons to Live and The Dog of the Marriage
