We all know the story of Romeo and Juliet, but I can pretty much guarantee that you have never imagined them the way that Ms. Maxwell has in her latest historical romance. Ms. Maxwell breathes life into these famous characters. By adding the de’ Medici’s and setting it in Florence, the whole story takes on a new dimension.
Juliet Capelletti is the only daughter of a silk merchant. Her father is friends with Cosimo de Medici and as such, receives a great deal of benefit from Cosimo’s patronage. Juliet’s best friend is Lucrezia Tournabuoni, betrothed to Cosimo’s son, Piero. As the best friend of Lucrezia, Juliet has been honored with the same education that Cosimo provided his futures daughter-in-law. Juliet adores Dante Alighieri’s writing despite it not being considered appropriate for an unmarried woman. The only black spot in Juliet’s life is her anticipated betrothal to her father’s business partner, Jacopo Strozzi, a man that Juliet finds distasteful in every way. Then at Lucrezia’s betrothal dance, Juliet meets a man who makes her heart beat faster and her head spin.
Romeo Monticecco is the son of an olive merchant. He was raised in Verona by two uncles and then attended university in Padua. He has only recently returned to Florence in order to mend his father’s feud with Juliet’s father and to take over some of the business. When these two meet, the sparks fly off the page. Romeo knows that mending the feud is the only way he can see Juliet again, but since he doesn’t even know how the feud started, he has to be creative in his endeavors.
Ms. Maxwell manages the most amazing feat in this story. She maintains the integrity of the Romeo and Juliet story with many of the elements from Shakespeare’s tale while at the same time re-envisioning it so that it has a whole new life. Modern readers will find her tale accessible. We have a villain other than their parents to hate which makes the tale all the more tragic. Ms. Maxwell sets the story in Florence so that the de’ Medici’s and Dante Alighieri can be part of the historical background of her tale. The introduction of a new city allows the relationship between the Monticecco and Capelletti families to take on a new dimension.
Don’t worry if you are a fan of the original tale! The friar still makes an appearance and plays a vital role. Nothing that makes the story a classic is left out of this new interpretation and Ms. Maxwell stays true to the original. Ms. Maxwell’s take on the tale simply adds a new perspective and makes Juliet and Romeo seem more like real people. We believe that these two people existed because Ms. Maxwell makes them so. We can feel the passion that Ms. Maxwell has not only for this story, but for this time period in Italy as well.
I loved every minute of this book. No one does historical romance like Ms. Maxwell. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
