Daughter of Venice

Donna Jo Napoli

May 2002 · Sold by Wendy Lamb Books

About this ebook

In 1592, Donata is a noble girl living in a palazzo on the Grand Canal. Girls of her class receive no education and rarely leave the palazzo. In a noble family, only one daughter and one son will be allowed to marry; Donata, like all younger daughters, will be sent to a convent. Donata longs to be tutored like her brothers and to see the Venice she has glimpsed only on the map. What is the world beyond her balcony, beyond what she sees when she glides, veiled, in a gondola down the canal? She dresses as a boy and escapes the palazzo on the Grand Canal to see the world before she is shut away, and to try to find a way to escape her fate. Donata risks everything; she changes her life, and her family’s life, forever when she walks through the door and encounters a Venice she never knew existed.

Ratings and reviews

I remember reading this in fifth grade and I could not put it down. I've been driving myself nuts trying to find it again because it was so good, but I could only remember vague bits of the plot. I think it's a credit to the book that I could remember what it was about having only read it once, fifteen years ago. Excellent read, and I'm glad to have found it again!

About the author

Donna Jo Napoli is the author of Crazy Jack, The Magic Circle, Stones in Water, and many other books, and is the chairperson of the linguistics department at Swarthmore College.