Novels set in Venice

[FourChimneys]

My cousin is going to Venice in the spring and I'd like to buy her a book set there. Apart from the obvious Death in Venice are there other good novels? I don't think she would enjoy chick lit or sci-fi.

TIA

Death in Venice

Jeanette Winterson's The Passion

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

'What you risk reveals what you value...'

The Passion is a fairy tale about survival and broken-heartedness, cruelty, obsession and madness.

Henri had a passion for Napoleon and Napoleon had a passion for chicken. From Boulogne to Moscow Henri butchered for his Emperor and never killed a single man.

Meanwhile, in Venice, the city of chance and disguises, Villanelle was born with the webbed feet of her boatman father - but in the casinos she gambled her heart and lost.

As the soldier-chef's love for Napoleon turns to hate he finds the Venetian beauty, and together they flee to the canals of darkness.

'It's a fantasy, a vivid dream... inventive and brilliant' Guardian

'As moving and funny as it is skilful, and reflects the author's formidable appetite for life' Sunday Times

Titian's Boatman by Victoria Blake

I love miss garnetts angel and the brunetti novels. You can get a book called Brunetti's walks through venice. It guides you through some of Brunetti's walks in the book. Apparently Donna Leon was incredibly accurate in this respect.

'The Glassblower of Murano' by Marina Fiorato. It's historical fiction - switches between 1681 and the present day.

Short story rather than a novel but I'd recommend Don't look now by Daphne du Maurier. An absolute masterpiece.

I’m very late to this, as ever, but Michael Dibdin's Dead Lagoon is set in Venice. A very different kind of detective fiction to Donna Leon; much more gritty.

Incidentally, Donna Leon lived in Venice for over 3 decades, hence the accuracy of her scene-setting - but she won’t allow the Brunetti books to be published in Italian as she doesn’t want them to be read locally…!

I'm not sure I’d recommend Henry James as holiday reading (or any reading, tbh), but his novella The Aspern Papers is set there. As is The Wings of the Dove, in part anyway.

So many people have mentioned Donna Leon's Brunetti novels now that I know I don't need to, but can't help myself. I've rarely read books that have such a solid feeling of place to them. Venice is the main character in all of the books, and Leon creates the feeling of the city, warts and all, exceptionally well.

The Thief Lord? it's actually a Children/YA but it has lovely descriptions of Venice