About the Book
A memorable collection of stories and essays on writing, reading, teaching, and Venice by the celebrated author of the bestselling Guido Brunetti series
Donna Leon's memoir, Wandering through Life, gave her legions of fans a colorful tour through her life, from childhood in New Jersey to adventures in China and Iran, to her love of Venice and opera. Nowhere, however, did she discuss her writing life.
In Backstage, Donna reveals her admiration for, and inspiration from, the great crime novelists Ruth Rendell and Ross Macdonald, examining their approach to storytelling as she dissects her favorite books of theirs. She expresses her love for Charles Dickens's Great Expectations and her appreciation for Sir Walter Scott's generosity of spirit. And she chronicles the amount of research she undertakes to be able to present authentically, through Guido Brunetti and his colleagues, places and characters far from her own experience--from interviewing a diamond dealer in Venice to open up the world of blood diamonds, to meeting, through back channels, a courageous sex worker and women's rights activist to depict accurately the trafficking of women in Italy. By contrast, the idea and opening scene of one of her novels came to her as she was walking through Venice.
Venice is central in her memory, whether recounting the semi-comic irritation of a noisy elderly neighbor or the origins of the city's Carnevale. Her teaching career yields memorable tales: helping a young Black boy in a Newark, New Jersey, elementary school; instructing young Iranian pilots in English just before the 1979 Iranian Revolution; and taking her students at a Swiss private high school to the famous Frank Zappa concert in Montreux interrupted by fire.
Throughout, she is as good a storyteller about herself as she is a chronicler of Guido Brunetti's crime adventures. Readers will be as caught up in her world as she is in his.
About the Author :
DONNA LEON, born in New Jersey in 1942, has worked as a travel guide in Rome and as a copywriter in London. She taught literature in universities in Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia. Commissario Brunetti made her books world-famous. Donna Leon lived in Italy for many years, and although she now lives in Switzerland, she often visits Venice.
Review :
Praise for Backstage:
"Brilliantly observant and skilled . . . These 32 essays give readers a welcome behind-the-scenes look at the prolific novelist . . . At last, readers can join Leon on the canals of Venice as she tells them about some of her favorite things."--Library Journal, starred review
"Leon brings Venice and its colorful, and sometimes annoying, citizenry to life through vibrant vignettes. Delightful, breezy, and illuminating."--Booklist
"A memorable collection . . . by the celebrated author of the bestselling Guido Brunetti series."--Criminal Element
"The essays are succinct . . . Leon's humor and narrative economy offer their own rewards. Even readers unfamiliar with Leon's fiction will be delighted by these dispatches."--Publishers Weekly
Praise for Wandering through Life:
"In this book, Ms. Leon puts Brunetti firmly in the background and brings herself to the fore . . . Her book is full of spontaneous decisions and aimless meandering . . . Warm, witty, and engaging."--Malcolm Forbes, Wall Street Journal
"So how has La Maestra achieved so much? A delightful companion in life and on the page, she says her high-flying literary career is due to a 'general chipper stance towards the world' and, despite her Catholic parents, a Protestant work ethic. Let's call them the wings of Leon."--Mark Sanderson, The Times (UK)
"Wandering through Life is subtitled 'A Memoir, ' but this does not do justice to such a remarkable book. It is not, by any means, a conventional memoir. It is a series of short, sometimes directionless excursions into facets of Leon's life and view of the world, some autobiographical, some philosophical and some purely whimsical . . . Leon has created a beautifully crafted looking glass into her world."--Justin Washaw, Times Literary Supplement
"[Leon's] memoir invites readers into her world of adventures, and she's certainly had plenty . . . Fans of her series will certainly enjoy this memoir and the brief letter she includes to dissuade them from trying to find Guido Brunetti at the Questura."--Library Journal
"Charming . . . Delightfully approachable."--Kirkus Reviews
"Leon is coy and discerning in the anecdotes she selects to chronicle her 80 years on Earth, whether lamenting Venice's environmental degradation or reveling in the works of Handel. Though fans will bask in these candid glimpses, one need not be a devoted Brunetti aficionado to appreciate Leon's delightfully spirited account of a life well lived."--Booklist
"Adventures on and off the page . . . Leon gathers 32 short essays on reading and writing, people (students, fellow writers, her mother), and places (Venice, in particular) that coalesce into a candid memoir . . . A delightful miscellany of musings on work and pleasure"--Kirkus Reviews
"An eye-opening read that truly fills in the blanks of Leon's life while maintaining enough of a distance so that readers still will have plenty to learn about her. Most of all, it makes me eagerly await her next Brunetti novel, which cannot come fast enough."--BookReporter
"A remarkable life story by a remarkable woman, Wandering through Life is an impressively written memoir laced with keen observation and humor. An inherently fascinating and memorable read from start to finish."--Midwest Book Review
Praise for Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries:
"This endlessly enjoyable series, with its deep thoughts about justice and vengeance and charming classical allusions, can't help making you smile."--Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
"[Leon] has never become perfunctory, never failed to give us vivid portraits of people and of Venice, never lost her fine, disillusioned indignation."--Ursula K. Le Guin, New York Times
"You become so wrapped up in these compelling characters . . . Each one is better than the last."--Louise Erdrich, PBS NewsHour
"Few detective writers create so vivid, inclusive, and convincing a narrative as Donna Leon . . . One of the most exquisite and subtle detective series ever."--Washington Post
"The sophisticated but still moral Brunetti, with his love of food and his loving family, proves a worthy custodian of timeless values and verities."--Wall Street Journal
"[Leon] uses the relatively small and crime-free canvas of Venice for rips about Italian life, sexual styles and--best of all--the kind of ingrown business and political corruption that seems to lurk just below the surface."--Chicago Tribune
"Hers is an unusually potent cocktail of atmosphere and event."--New Yorker
"For those who know Venice, or want to, Brunetti is a well-versed escort to the nooks, crannies, moods, and idiosyncrasies of what residents call La Serenissima, the Serene One . . . Richly atmospheric, [Leon] introduces you to the Venice insiders know."--USA Today
"Donna Leon is the undisputed crime fiction queen . . . Leon's ability to capture the social scene and internal politics [of Venice] is first-rate."--Baltimore Sun
"Terrific at providing, through its weary but engaging protagonist, a strong sense of the moral quandaries inherent in Italian society and culture."--San Francisco Chronicle
"Brunetti is one of the most attractive policemen in crime fiction today."--Philadelphia Inquirer
"As always, Brunetti is highly attuned to (and sympathetic toward) the failings of the humans around him."--Seattle Times
"Leon's writing trembles with true feeling."--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Leon started out with offhand, elegant excellence, and has simply kept it up."--Guardian
"Compassionate yet incorruptible, Brunetti knows that true justice doesn't always end in an arrest or a trial."--Publishers Weekly
"[Brunetti] is a superb police detective--calm, deliberate, and insightful as he investigates with a reflective thoroughness."--Library Journal
"The appeal of Guido Brunetti, the hero of Donna Leon's long-running Venetian crime series, comes not from his shrewdness, though he is plenty shrewd, nor from his quick wit. It comes, instead, from his role as an Everyman . . . [his life is] not so different from our own days at the office or nights around the dinner table. Crime fiction for those willing to grapple with, rather than escape, the uncertainties of daily life."--Booklist
"It's difficult to describe the work of Donna Leon other than in superlatives . . . An annual blessing, a fine series--one of the finest (see what I mean) in the mystery (or any) genre . . . There are few reading joys that equal cracking the binding of a new Leon novel . . . If you have not experienced this world, so exotic and yet so familiar, you can pick up literally any volume in the series and begin a comfortable entry into Brunetti's Venice."--BookReporter
