The historical detail here is impressive and gives the novel the weight of authenticity, especially the chapters set in 1340, when Guilietta Tolomei first meets Romeo Salimbeni. The closer she gets to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more she is in danger from foes of whom she isn’t even aware.

As time will prove, Julie has made many erroneous assumptions about the intentions of others and been tempted too often to trust in her own ability to deflect trouble. This is the love-hate paradigm that fuels romance novels: villain versus lover, trust versus betrayal.

It isn’t surprising when Julie meets her Romeo - dark-eyed, moody Alessandro - although their first few encounters are predictably adversarial. Piece by piece, Julie assembles her clues but has difficulty putting them into the context of the region’s history and the powerful families that have battled for dominance over one another. Aware that she is being followed, twenty-five-year-old Julie is too intent on her quest to take precautions, although others are clearly at work to impede her progress a reckoning looms on the horizon. Unsure about the trustworthiness of any of her new acquaintances but desperate for information, Julie begins a dangerous investigation, rooting through family myths and old texts, asking questions that arouse suspicion about her motives. So while Janice enjoys her new wealth, Julie travels to Siena, intent on unraveling a family mystery, meanwhile discovering identity, family, a potential lover and the politics that drove two great families apart centuries before, determining the tragic fate of Romeo and Juliet - in this case, Guilietta Tolomei and Romeo Salimbeni. Neither twin remembers their mother or father after being orphaned at a young age and brought from Italy to America to be raised by Aunt Rose. It all starts in America, when twins Julie and Janice Jordan lose their beloved Aunt Rose, who leaves her estate to Janice and a mystery to Julia that began in Siena years ago. What if Shakespeare’s tragic drama actually occurred in Siena, Italy, and not Verona? And what if Romeo and Juliet had descendants destined to play out once more that sad ending unless the curse is broken? Fortier explores these options in her retelling of the star-crossed lovers’ fate, drawing from other literary efforts that were published before Shakespeare eclipsed them all with his play.

Juliet by anne fortier