The Girl of His Dreams, Donna Leon
The Girl of His Dreams, Donna Leon
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The Girl of His Dreams

Author: Donna Leon

Narrator: David Colacci

Unabridged: 9 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/13/2008

Synopsis

On a rainy morning, not long after the funeral of his mother, Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to a 911 call reporting a body floating near the steps in one of Venice's side canals. Reaching down to pull it out, Brunetti's wrist is caught by the silkiness of golden hair, and he sees a small foot—together he and Vianello lift a dead girl from the water. But, inconceivably, no one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewelry that she carries.So Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death, but also for her identity, her family, and for the secrets that people will keep in order to protect their children—be they innocent or guilty. The investigation takes Brunetti from the canals and palazzos of Venice to a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, through quicksands of connections and relationships both known and concealed, as he struggles with both institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.

About Donna Leon

American author, Donna Leon, has settled nicely into a series of crime novels set in Venice, Italy entitled, Brunettixote. The novels feature the fictional character of Commissario Guido Brunetti.

Leon was born in 1942, and eventually lived in Venice, Italy for over 30 years. She was an English literature lecturer for the University of Maryland in Europe (Italy), and worked on a military base in Italy for several years, before she became a full time writer. She moved to Zurich, Switzerland, and also had a home in a smaller Swiss village.

The novels have been translated from English into several foreign languages, but for some reason the author did not approve them being translated into Italian. German television has shown 22 Commissario Brunetti episodes that they produced for broadcast.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Monica

I love the Brunetti books and greedily read this in one sitting, but unfortunately I was disappointed. The first part of the story consisted of a lengthy soapbox criticism of the Catholic Church, and while I actually agree with that criticism, I heard in it too much of the author's voice (rather tha......more

Goodreads review by Alex is The Romance Fox

The Girl of His Dreams, the 17th novel in Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti Series opens with Brunetti attending his mother's funeral, where he's approached by a priest, a friend of Brunetti's brother, asking him to investigate a new age minister who may be swindling Venetian old parishioners. There......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth (Alaska)

I do so love Brunetti - how can I be giving most of the books in the series only 3-stars? Oh, yeah, it's because I decided top rating for mysteries is 4-stars unless the book is truly exceptional. This series may be worth more than the sum of its parts. I have never been to Venice and I do not believ......more

Goodreads review by Blair

In each of her books featuring Venetian detective Guido Brunetti, Leon tackles a current and relevant issue, moral, religious, or political, in the context of the case before him. Always in her books, Brunetti, a highly intelligent, ethical, honest policeman is besieged by forces beyond his control......more

Quotes

“Reading The Girl of His Dreams leaves you no choice but to reconsider what makes a mystery novel so good. Certainly there’s no denying the appeal of a hard-boiled crime story, where more often than not a brilliant yet battered P.I. drives you white-knuckled to the edge of your seat, but Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti—at once exactingly inquisitive and disarmingly sensitive—bucks that genre convention entirely.” Amazon.com, editorial review

Awards

  • Amazon Best Book of the Month
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