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Alvise Marangon is an artist 'resting' between commissions and so using his guile and enterprise as a tour guide to those taking the European Grand Tour in 18th century Venice. Everything has a business as usual feel to it for Alvise until he notices a fellow gondolier paying his friend not to take a couple of English tourists. Then, as the new Doge is inaugurated a man's head is thrown into the crowd. Showing people around a typical Venice is becoming increasingly hard for Alvise – Venice is not behaving typically!
Fellow Bristolian [[:Catgegory:Gregory Dowling|Gregory Dowling]] went to Italy to teach for just a year. That was followed by another one more year, and another and… Now, 34 years later, he lives in Venice and has given up counting. Lucky for us!
Why lucky? His love of the city and its past has been translated into a novel which occupies a place and era we don't see a lot of on our historical fiction shelves, voiced by a narrator I would take to the pub any time… as long as I was wearing a crash helmet and stab vest! Alvise may be enterprising and quick thinking but he increasingly finds himself in some tricky situations. (Where we're concerned, for 'tricky' read 'exciting'!)