Product Description

One rainy morning Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to an emergency call reporting a body floating near some steps on the Grand Canal. Reaching down to pull it out, Brunetti's wrist is caught by the silkiness of golden hair, and he sees a small foot - together he and Vianello lift a dead girl from the water. But, inconceivably, no one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewellery that she carries. Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death but also for her identity, her family, and for the secrets that people will keep in order to protect their children - be they innocent or guilty. From the canals and palazzi of Venice to a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, Brunetti struggles with institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6985 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk
Donna Leon’s engaging books have been the cheapest way to travel to Italy for quite some time -- and her legion of admirers know that the Venice of her protagonist Commissario Brunetti is a wonderful destination for the crime fiction lover. Leon, an American expat who now lives in la Serenissima (with such luminaries as opera singer Cecilia Bartoli as one of her friends) has gone native – in no uncertain terms. Her knowledge of Brunetti’s water-logged beat is transmuted into vivid and evocative narratives: the Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge are often the dark passageways to another, darker Italy, where hidden (and not-so-hidden) corruption – in politics and daily life – is very much an everyday thing (as headlines in the papers – not just in Donna Leon’s books –remind us on a daily basis).

The Girl of his Dreams demonstrates how much life is left in the Leon/Brunetti criminal world. A child’s body is found floating near some steps on the Grand Canal – it is that of a dead girl. But there have been no reports of missing children -- and the search for the identity of the youthful victim and her family takes Brunetti to many varied destinations, including a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, and (eventually), he turns up some very nasty secrets. As ever, it’s not just the villains who thwart Brunetti at every turn – it’s the venality and clandestine nature of the establishment that hampers him, almost as a matter of course.

This is Leon on effortless form – Brunetti fans need not hesitate. --Barry Forshaw

From the Back Cover
‘In The Girl of His Dreams, Donna Leon is writing at her fluent best.’ The Independent

One rainy morning Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to a 911 call reporting a body floating near some steps on the Grand Canal. Reaching down to pull it out, Brunetti’s wrist is caught by the silkiness of golden hair, and he sees a small foot – together he and Vianello lift a dead girl from the water.

But, inconceivably, no one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewellery that she carries. Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death but also for her identity, her family, and for the secrets that people will keep in order to protect their children – be they innocent or guilty.

From the canals and palazzos of Venice to a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, Brunetti struggles with institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.

‘Written in a powerful, economical style…Leon’s 17th novel is one of her darkest and most reflective.’ Guardian

‘Another intriguing episode in this fine series’ Sunday Telegraph

About the Author
Donna Leon has lived in Venice for many years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she worked as a teacher. Her previous novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all been highly acclaimed; recently Friends in High Places, which won the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, Blood From A Stone, Through A Glass, Darkly and Suffer the Little Children.

Customer Reviews

Donna Leon at her best
If you want a simple whodunnit, then read no further. However, if you want to be engaged and challenged, and reminded of the deviousness of the human mind, the by-ways of evil, and the moral ambiguities of life, then Donna Leon has few peers, and this book shows why.
This book starts apparently inconsequentially at a funeral, and then with a priest consulting Comissario Brunetti, Leon's chief character. It serves as a way into Brunetti's thoughts and inner world; for while those are present in each of her Venetian novels, they are centre-stage here throughout.
The main event, the finding of a young child's body in a canal, doesn't come until well into the book, but since what Leon wants to do is show how the find affects Brunetti, as well as those around him, the atmosphere and the interiority of the narrative need space to develop. Without giving anything away, one can say that the girl haunts Brunetti: she is the girl of his dreams in a way that phrase normally never signifies.
The figure of Ispettore Vianello, Brunetti's assistant, is drawn more fully in this novel than in any of the preceding, and he becomes both a mirror to and a foil for Brunetti's broodings.
The usual lighter moments of the series: food, drink, and the wiles of Patta's secretary are all present, but are less prominent. Given the darkness of the book, they have to be. The city's role as a character, always a part of these books, is different, too: somehow, for Brunetti, this crime subtly alters his take on Venice.
By the end of the book, there both is and isn't resolution. The facts around the girl's death are clearer, and the priest's query gets an answer. And we end at another funeral that balances the beginning. But the moral ambiguities are, well, just more ambiguous. It's something that happens in several books in this series to some extent, but here it's not a plot device: it is the plot.
The book is hardly fun, but if you like Donna Leon's work, then this is a must. For me, at least, it's her best yet.

The difference between good and evil
Donna Leon's novels always leave the reader wondering about the fine line between good and evil. 'The Girl of his Dreams' is no exception. Two stories intertwine. A priest who officiated at the funeral of Brunetti's mother asks him for help, and a young girl's body is pulled from a canal. Leon's writing is understated to such an extent that you are completely unconscious of it as you read. Nothing strikes a false note. Venice comes to life through the five senses. People are by turns good and evil. Everything swirls in ever changing patterns. Brunetti works against the vested interests which influence the most trivial happening. Italy's ever present problem with poor migrants comes to the fore in this story amd questions are raised about the relative values of human lives and different moral values. There is never any gratuitous violence in Donna Leon's books and they are all the more powerful for it. Her characters are never two dimensional. If you like your crime novels with added depth then this book is for you.

Leon's Brunetti is at the top of his form!



Donna Leon's 17th Commissario Brunetti book continues, well, Donna Leon. There's nothing new about this 17th episode, other than the crimes they're investigating, but Leon's fans don't necessarily want anything new. They're happy with this series just being Donna Leon: well written stories, great characterizations, excellent plot, and, of course, her penchant for socially significant issues, the least of which is not the corruptive practices of some elements of the Italian establishment (to put it kindly). As she told me last November, "My books aren't published in Italian!" Which is probably why she continues to enjoy living in Venice. In her books she looks scathingly at various facets of official Italian life and not kindly. That said, the other elements are like dazzling gems. And she does love her Venice.

Brunetti is a sensitive, honest policeman who never continues to be amazed at the "human condition." Crime after crime doesn't deter him, although he often calls into question some of society's "thinking." He does so with the support of his learned wife Paolo (who teaches English literature at a local university). This personal relationship is also one of the strong points in Leon's works.

In "Girl of his Dreams," a young girl is found drowned in one of the canals; on her person are two items of value, jewelry that lead not only to the owners but to the pursuit of what looks like murder. Here Brunetti faces the political and social concerns involving "non-Italian" residents (in this case Gypsies) and the discrimination and social injustices they not only suffer, but sometimes lead into. It also addresses the double standards of justice for the poor and the rich and well-placed. Where will the leads take Brunett , his Inspector Vianello, and his inimitable secretary Signorina Elettra?

At the same time, following the burial of his mother, Brunetti is visited by the administering priest, who reports that an "outside" minister seems to be involved in a money-scam and seeks Brunetti's help. This is in typical Leon fashion in having more than one story line progressing at the same time. With this series, the author does not merely pursue crime or confront a viable socially significant issue, but she provides us with continued insight into her well developed characters (Brunetti's family, his co-workers, and at various times other local citizens).

"Girl of his Dreams" moves along at a fast pace (a strong point in Leon's prose), but she never permits the pace to interfere with her objectives. Some readers have objected to her because Leon rarely provides a "Polly Anna" ending; instead, she chooses probably what is more of a realistic culmination. Occasionally, the real culprit may appear to go unpunished (although the crimes are always solved), due to bureaucratic snafus, legal fine-points, or just the fact that some problems perhaps aren't to be solved in this world. Leon, no doubt, prefers the realistic to the idealistic. Regardless, she's worth a read. This latest is no exception.