Juliet
Anne Fortier, 2010
Random House
447 pp.
ISBN-13: 139780345516107
Summary
A young woman who discovers that her family’s origins reach all the way back to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers...
Twenty-five-year-old Julie Jacobs is heartbroken over the death of her beloved aunt Rose. But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie’s twin sister. The only thing Julie receives is a key—one carried by her mother on the day she herself died—to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy.
This key sends Julie on a journey that will change her life forever—a journey into the troubled past of her ancestor Giulietta Tolomei. In 1340, still reeling from the slaughter of her parents, Giulietta was smuggled into Siena, where she met a young man named Romeo. Their ill-fated love turned medieval Siena upside-down and went on to inspire generations of poets and artists, the story reaching its pinnacle in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
But six centuries have a way of catching up to the present, and Julie gradually begins to discover that here, in this ancient city, the past and present are hard to tell apart. The deeper she delves into the history of Romeo and Giulietta, and the closer she gets to the treasure they allegedly left behind, the greater the danger surrounding her—superstitions, ancient hostilities, and personal vendettas.
As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in the unforgettable blood feud, she begins to fear that the notorious curse—“A plague on both your houses!”—is still at work, and that she is destined to be its next target. Only someone like Romeo, it seems, could save her from this dreaded fate, but his story ended long ago. Or did it?
From Anne Fortier comes a sweeping, beautifully written novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied—for better or worse—to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—November 10, 1971
• Where— Holstebro, Denmark
• Education—Ph.D., Aarhus University (Denmark)
• Currently—lives in Canada
My story began a few decades ago on the Danish North-Sea coast. I spent most of my childhood curled up in an armchair, reading and writing, hiding from the west wind. Encouraged by my wonderful mother, I managed to turn everything into a writing opportunity; no one escaped my party songs, theatre plays, and school magazines, try as they might. Believe me, I wore out several inherited typewriters before I left for college.
Armed with that brand-new contraption called a computer, I embarked upon a degree in the History of Ideas—a field perfectly suited for wannabe writers. My studies took me to many different places; Paris, Norway, Oklahoma, and Oxford to name a few, and after completing my Ph.D. I decided to immigrate to the United States. This was where I co-produced the Emmy-winning documentary Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia.
In 2005 my first novel was published in Denmark, with the title Hyrder paa Bjerget, which means "Shepherds on the Mountain." It is a Gothic comedy about the battle between science and religion, in which a group of mad scientists ensnare a young woman, Marie, in their wicked scheme to bring about a second Flood.
Over the years I have had the pleasure of lecturing at a number of universities in Europe and North America, addressing a variety of subjects in Classical literature, European history, and creative writing. In 2007 I joined Institute for Humane Studies in Washington D.C., and although I have now turned to full-time writing, I am still a strong supporter of IHS and its mission.
My latest book, Juliet, was bought by Ballantine/Random House in 2008 and has since been sold for publication to more than thirty countries worldwide. You can read much more about the book, the writing process, and the collaboration with my mother by visiting the official Random House book site www.julietbook.com. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
(Starred review.) [A] high-flying debut in which American Julie Jacobs travels to Siena in search of her Italian heritage...to discover she is descended from 14th-century Giulietta Tomei, whose love for Romeo defied their feuding families and inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.... [W]ritten in the language of modern romance and enlivened by brisk storytelling[,] Fortier navigates around false clues and twists, resulting in a dense, heavily plotted love story.
Publishers Weekly
Most readers are familiar with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but not everyone knows that the Bard based his play on an old Italian tale in which the doomed lovers meet and die in the medieval city of Siena. Drawing on this tale, Fortier's historical debut features a plot as complicated as a Shakespearean play.... [T]his entertaining historical thriller is more in line with Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (but much better written!). —Jamie Kallio, Thomas Ford Memorial Lib., Western Springs, IL.
Library Journal
Fortier’s debut offers a beguiling mix of romance, intrigue, history, and Shakespeare.... Lovers of adventurous fiction will lose themselves in Fortier’s exciting, intricately woven tale. —Kristine Huntley
Booklist
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. In Anne Fortier's novel Juliet, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet casts a long shadow over the lives of the main characters, past and present. Looking at the "original" story of Romeo and Giulietta set in 1340, consider in what ways Fortier uses Shakespeare's great tragedy as a model for her own work, and in what ways she departs from it.
2. Discuss the ways in which the bonds of sisterhood—for good and for ill—are central to the novel. Why do you think Fortier introduces this element into her story?
3. Although there are surprising revelations about all the characters in the novel, perhaps the most shocking has to do with Umberto, Aunt Rose's faithful butler. Did you find Umberto to be a sympathetic character? Why or why not?
4. Very early in the novel, we are introduced to Julie's recurring dream—a dream that seems to foretell her own fate and to recapitulate the fate of Romeo and Guilietta centuries earlier. Is there a rational explanation for this dream, or is it a supernatural occurrence? And what about the other seemingly supernatural events or objects in the novel, such as the divine intervention of the Virgin Mary on Giulietta's wedding night with Messer Salimbeni, or the destructive powers of Romeo's signet ring; can these events be explained rationally?
5. How does the relationship of Janice and Julie evolve over the course of the novel? What are the major turning points? Did you find these changes believable? Why or why not?
6. Why does Friar Lorenzo champion the young lovers, risking his life on their behalf? Do you think he is justified in placing a curse on both the Tolomei and the Salimbeni houses?
7. Juliet is in many ways a novel about families and the secrets and obligations that hold them together...and sometimes force them apart. Consider the bonds of family, love and duty in the three families we meet in the 1340 storyline, beginning with the relationship between fathers and their children. In what ways are they different? How are they the same? And what about the present-day narrative...has anything changed?
8. Maestro Lippi occupies the studio of Maestro Ambrogio, and, like Ambrogio, he, too, has a dog named Dante. Is the author trying to suggest that Lippi is some kind of reincarnation of Ambrogio? What is the relationship between these two characters, separated by centuries?
9. What about Julie and Alessandro: are they reincarnations of Giulietta and Romeo, forced to repeat the actions of their ancestors by the terms of an ancient curse, or by some genetic inheritance? In what ways do the lives of the two sets of characters parallel or echo each other? In what ways are they different?
10. Compare the ways that the characters from 1340 think and act to the ways the present-day characters think and act. Are they more or less impulsive? More or less rational? Does love mean the same thing to them? How, for example, is the love that develops between Julie and Alessandro different from that of Romeo and Giulietta? What accounts for these differences?
11. Compare the banter between Romeo and Giulietta at their first meetings with the corresponding text of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, especially in Act I, Scene V, and Act II, Scene II. Note where Fortier follows Shakespeare and where she goes her own way. Why do you think she makes those choices? How do those choices distinguish her versions of Romeo and Juliet from their more famous antecedents?
12. At one point, Alessandro tells Julie: "In my opinion, your story—and Romeo and Juliet as well—is not about love. It's about politics...." Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why? What do you think the author's opinion is?
13. Themes of guilt, redemption, and second chances course through the novel, especially in the present-day narrative, impelling many of the characters and their actions. Consider which characters embrace the opportunity of a second chance, and which don't.
14. Another prevalent theme is that of twins and twinning. Not only are some characters born as twins, but others seem to be mirrored across the centuries. At one point in the novel, Julie sits on the front steps of the Siena Cathedral, thinking about the myth behind the black-and-white Siena coat-of-arms, the Balzana, which involves a pair of twins fleeing from their evil uncle on a black and a white horse. Why do you think Fortier has woven these threads—twinning and black-and-white—so strongly into her fictional tapestry?
15. Why does Alessandro keep his true identity a secret from Julie for so long? Is he right to do so?
16. Does Julie trust Alessandro too easily? Why does she wait so long to confront him with what she knows about his actions and his identity?
17. At the end of the novel, Julie muses: "Who knows, maybe there never was a curse. Maybe it was just us—all of us—thinking that we deserved one." Do you think there was a curse, or not?
18. Flash forward five years past the end of the novel. What has happened to Julie and Janice? What about Umberto? If there was going to be a sequel to this novel, told from Janice's point of view, what questions would you like to have answered, and what themes would you like so see further explored?
(Questions courtesy of Random House Juliet website. Visit this site for background on the book, videos, photos, and an interactive map.)
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