![]() ![]() When he gets too exhausted to talk, his father buys him a notebook with a swirly purple and red marbled cover.Īfter hearing about Venice from his father, Lucien falls asleep with this notebook in his hand and thoughts of Venezia in his mind, and is transported to Belleza, in the magical world of Talia. Lucien Mulholland is a teen living in the Islington area in London who has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. And the believable and rounded characters who we can readily identify with, just add yet another dimension to this book which many have written off as a book written for young adults and children. With its affinity to silver rather than gold, its multi-faceted religion/belief system which is a mix of Old Christianity and pagan/wiccan traditions, and the friendly but superstitious lagooners who adore their city and their Duchessa more than their own lives, Belleza is the perfect setting for a fantasy. These Stravaganti are only distinguishable from the Talian public by their absence of a shadow, and through the ages there have been many such ‘travellers’ leading to the formation of a ‘brotherhood’ of sorts. ‘Stravagation’ is the technique of being able to travel between two different worlds (16 th century Talia and our modern world in this instance) albeit with a special talisman brought from the world to which the Stravagante intends on travelling to. Hoffman has created a counterpart of Renaissance Italy called ‘Talia’ and Belleza is her version of Venice – dark and mysterious, full of magic and intrigue, ruled by the great, beautiful Duchessa Silvia. ![]() This serves well with the connection of the city to water. The origin of the name ‘Venice’ is thought to have a relation to the meaning of the Latin word ‘venetus’ that is ‘sea-blue’. Mary Hoffman has played on these very titles and named the first of her books, set in an ‘alternate’ version of Venice, as ‘City of Masks’. Venice – that beautiful, romantic city in northern Italy has been called by many names – The City of Water, The City of Bridges and The City of Light among others. Maybe for a simple reassurance that good does triumph over evil, or that there is something called as karma or for the simple reason of escaping a troubled and confused world into one where everything works out in the end, however bad things may seem at first. It is followed by ‘City of Stars’ (set in an alternate version of Siena), ‘City of Flowers’ (set in an alternate version of Florence), ‘City of Secrets’ (set in an alternate version of Padua) and Mary Hoffman has just confirmed that the fifth book ‘City of Ships’ (set in an alternate version of Ravenna) will be available in 2010.įantasy has always been a very popular genre through the ages, but it is now in the modern 21 st century with so many problems and evils, that people seem to be gravitating towards it more than ever. ‘City of Masks’ (set in an alternate version of Venice) is the first book in the Stravaganza series that started out with the intention of being a trilogy. She is a true ‘Italy’ enthusiast and this shows deeply in her Stravaganza series. Mary Hoffman is a British author and critic (born in 1945) who has written over 90 books for all age-groups.
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