Product Description

This title is set in Venice, Italy, 1592. Donata Mocenigo, younger daughter of one of the city's great noble families, leads a life of wealth and privilege. But, she feels constricted by the many rules of etiquette she must observe and rejects the role of dutiful daughter and the future her father has planned for her - either to be married (if she is lucky) or to become a nun. So Donata and her sisters come up with a daring plan allowing her to escape the palazzo and explore. But little does she realize that in doing so she will change her own and her family's lives for ever...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47491 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
"* "Napoli writes with vigour and compassion... the novel thrums with historical detail and feminist ardour." The Independent on Sunday * "A superbly researched, richly textured novel." Celia Rees, author of Witch Child * "An absorbing tale of courage." The Bookseller"

About the Author
Donna Jo Napoli is a professor of linguistics and author of many distinguished books for young readers. Daughter of Venice was inspired by some research she did into the education of wealthy women in sixteenth-century Italy. "Most of these women grew up economically privileged, unlike me, but I connected with their stories because education opened up my world, just as it opened theirs," she says. A dual citizen of the USA and Italy, Donna lives in Pennsylvania, USA.

Customer Reviews

Very readable, but doesn't really stay with you for long
Firstly, I'll state the good points. It was highly readable; I could hardly put it down and finished it in a matter of hours. Through the vivid descriptions and rich vocabulary, I could almost sense the suffocating life that was Donata's world; I was also able to get a feel of the inequality between men and women during those times. Evidently, Napoli had done her research.

But there wasn't much more to it - I found the characterisation to be a little on the flat side, which is perhaps expected of a book that is relatively short and aimed for a younger audience. I also thought the whole incident with Noé went a little unresolved, and I was a little irritated by the "happy for all" kind of ending. The pace was rather slow at times, too.

Still, it was a good read on a hot summer's day, and if you're looking for some light historical fiction, this book is worth reading.

A noble girl is out to see the world before it is too late.
Donata is a young noble girl who lives in Venice during the late 1500s. She is fortunate to be rich, but she is locked away from the world outside her palazzo and is not educated. After finding out that she will not marry and will instead be sent to a convent, she comes up with a plan to escape and see the world outside her palazzo, before she is locked away forever.

I recommend this book to girls ages 10 and up. Boys may read it too, but they might not enjoy it as much since some seens describe how a girl is feeling as she talks to the man she secrely has a crush on. So if you are looking for a book that is realistic fiction, you will absolutly enjoy, and will educate you on Venice in the 1500s, then this book is for you.

Superb!!!
I couldn't put it down! Was so engrossed in the world of ancient Venice... I love the city, that's why I decided to read this book, but Donata's world is so different and interesting.
I read the book in one go in one day, and pity now that there are no more books about Donata and her Venice.
If you liked that book, I'd recommend Mary Hoffman's trilogy of "Stravaganza" books, it has a bit of fantasy, but mostly is about similar time in ancient Italy: Venice, Florence and Rome. And it involves mostly teens too.