REALMS OF GOLD
(reviewed on September 15, 2012)
Stanfill’s (The Blood Remembers, 2001) novel follows an unlikely pair of lovers as they piece together an ancient puzzle that will shed light on an age-old mystery.
In
1953, an archaeological team working in Vix, a small town in the
Burgundy region of France, found the 2,500-year-old tomb of a woman some
claim to have been a Celtic princess. The burial site, surprisingly
well preserved, housed both the woman’s body and a treasure of
immeasurable value that included a perfectly intact krater (a
ritual wine vessel) likely cast in Southern Italy. While the
groundbreaking find revealed much, it left many questions unanswered:
Who was this mysterious woman? Why was she entombed with such treasure?
And what was the origin of the foreign urn? These questions—which still
vex experts today—drive Stanfill’s scintillating tale of intellectual
discovery and budding romance.
In contemporary Venice, Bianca Evans
Caldwell—an American author—crosses paths with archaeologist Giovanni de
Serlo at a wedding and immediately falls for the suave, confident
Italian. But neither suspect that this chance meeting would send them
both on a continent-spanning adventure that will help solve the
mysteries of the Vix krater and the sleeping princess,
all the while delivering surprising new insights into the mythology of
England and France. Stanfill’s narrative initially feels ornate, but it
morphs into a lively, precise plot. The author pours her estimable
learning into this, her fourth novel, and she’s equally comfortable
writing about the nuances of ancient art, the links between myth and
history, and the nooks and crannies of modern-day Italy. And though her
book seems by turns a travel guide or an archaeology textbook, its
details only add verisimilitude to a satisfyingly complex story of love,
learning and intrigue in Europe.
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