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The Whirling Girl
When botanical artist Clare Livingstone unexpectedly inherits her uncle's property in Tuscany, she travels to Italy to learn why, despite their long estrangement and complicated past, she was chosen to maintain his legacy.
The hill town of Cortona, however, won't give up its secrets easily. Clare is immediately plunged into intrigue. Two men pursue her, but with agendas of their own; neighbours try to delve into the story of her past; and unscrupulous archaeologists are drawn to her property in search of buried Etruscan artefacts. Once again forced to negotiate between desire and history - in a balance as fragile as the orchids she illustrates for science - Clare realizes she cannot escape her life of deception until she finally confronts the truth she has kept buried so long.
The hill town of Cortona, however, won't give up its secrets easily. Clare is immediately plunged into intrigue. Two men pursue her, but with agendas of their own; neighbours try to delve into the story of her past; and unscrupulous archaeologists are drawn to her property in search of buried Etruscan artefacts. Once again forced to negotiate between desire and history - in a balance as fragile as the orchids she illustrates for science - Clare realizes she cannot escape her life of deception until she finally confronts the truth she has kept buried so long.
380 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 25, 2015
The Whirling Girl opens like a modern fairy tale, when Clare Livingston inherits an old Tuscan farmhouse from her uncle, an Etruscan scholar of international repute. This is “the stuff that dreams are made on,” and as she drives along the old roads winding round Cortona in her rental jeep, we shift into the enchanted Italian landscape of “castled towns.” Clare is an accomplished traveler herself, an Amazon explorer and botanical illustrator, and she has come to Tuscany to carry out a project: to make a series of botanical drawings of Tuscan plants used in witchcraft, inspired by the works of Charles Leland. The house she has inherited is the archetypal Tuscan farmhouse, ancient and weathered, built of lichen-covered stones which seem to grow out of the hill itself. Its dim mirrors reflect a seductive but unreal landscape and an unreal self as she whirls before her mirror in a private ritual echoing DH Lawrence’s description of Etruscan dances. As the story progresses, turning into a quirky comedy of manners, she will keep whirling, pursued by two men, a shaggy American archaeologist lacking in psychological subtlety and an Italian aristocrat only too subtle.
She will learn that Italy is dangerous, and indeed that Italians are “mysterious and terrible,” with a country behind them “that’s upset people from the beginning of the world” to quote Forster.
Italy is the land of sensual transformation, where nymphs and satyrs both ancient and contemporary may be lurking the bushes, where the friendliest handyman and most trustworthy maid may mask their real intentions behind their smiles, where the earth yields up treasures buried centuries ago to those who look for them, and nothing is ever what it seems. Although her name is Clare, she isn’t clear or transparent, her life holds a secret love, a secret shame – and a lie, she is not who she really claims to be. Despite the atmosphere of this novel spun with sensual charm, evoking all the pleasures of Tuscany: its art and architecture, landscapes, festivals, luscious food,rustic settings, and glamorous expats, this is a story about redeeming oneself by unburying the past, and then coming home to a new starting place.
Barbara Lambert's impressionistic prose is airy and elegant, lush and sensual,offering an authentic taste of a Tuscan summer. A great book for a summer read... preferably, in Tuscany!
She will learn that Italy is dangerous, and indeed that Italians are “mysterious and terrible,” with a country behind them “that’s upset people from the beginning of the world” to quote Forster.
Italy is the land of sensual transformation, where nymphs and satyrs both ancient and contemporary may be lurking the bushes, where the friendliest handyman and most trustworthy maid may mask their real intentions behind their smiles, where the earth yields up treasures buried centuries ago to those who look for them, and nothing is ever what it seems. Although her name is Clare, she isn’t clear or transparent, her life holds a secret love, a secret shame – and a lie, she is not who she really claims to be. Despite the atmosphere of this novel spun with sensual charm, evoking all the pleasures of Tuscany: its art and architecture, landscapes, festivals, luscious food,rustic settings, and glamorous expats, this is a story about redeeming oneself by unburying the past, and then coming home to a new starting place.
Barbara Lambert's impressionistic prose is airy and elegant, lush and sensual,offering an authentic taste of a Tuscan summer. A great book for a summer read... preferably, in Tuscany!
May 24, 2013
No writer pulls off flirtation scenes like Barbara Lambert. I was hooked by the excitement of Clare, inheriting an estate from her uncle in Tuscany and meeting the charmers she did. Lambert has a luscious writing style, full of glorious description of even the tiniest objects; and she knows plants and has done her historical research. Each character is a study in how to delineate and individuate characters -- you will keep track of them all. And just enough sex and some over-the-top romance.
Where the book teetered, for me, was in the integration of Clare's background story (no, I'm not going to tell) into what or who she chooses in the end. I was confused in the last sixth of the book about why certain things were happening (I also worried that Clare was exhausted from her exploits). I wanted one clear ending -- (oh, don't we all); it felt as though Lambert had so many possibilities that she couldn't choose, so there was uncertainty, toward the finish, of what the intention of the book was -- literary? popular high-flying romance with substance?
Oddly, the cover is beautiful but did not, to my eye, represent Clare or the events in the book. Lambert is such a good writer, I'm filled with admiration. I am looking forward to A Message for Mr Lazarus. Lambert's website is worth a good look.
Where the book teetered, for me, was in the integration of Clare's background story (no, I'm not going to tell) into what or who she chooses in the end. I was confused in the last sixth of the book about why certain things were happening (I also worried that Clare was exhausted from her exploits). I wanted one clear ending -- (oh, don't we all); it felt as though Lambert had so many possibilities that she couldn't choose, so there was uncertainty, toward the finish, of what the intention of the book was -- literary? popular high-flying romance with substance?
Oddly, the cover is beautiful but did not, to my eye, represent Clare or the events in the book. Lambert is such a good writer, I'm filled with admiration. I am looking forward to A Message for Mr Lazarus. Lambert's website is worth a good look.
August 3, 2018
I choose this book because of the location - Italy. I did get a feel for the place and characters but the writing style was difficult to adjust to. Rather too elaborate in places and disconnected in others so it was a hard read.
March 29, 2013
The Whirling Girl is wonderfully evocative, with a prose style beautifully matched to its subtle, mysterious subject matter. So much is hidden here - from its protagonist’s past,to the motives of the uncle who leaves her his property in Tuscany, and also the Etruscan artefacts buried on this property.
I was in awe of the author’s deft handling of the complex structure of the novel, but I was especially taken with the language. Lambert is a consummate stylist who manages to capture things and emotions in words both stunningly apt and original.
Claire, the book’s main character, is a botanical artist, and I found Lambert’s style perfectly suited to describing her work and the work of other artists. I also loved the way physical descriptions segue into states of mind:
“Much later — all night — the colours of Nikki’s shadow paintings pooled in Clare’s dreams, and those words ran through the channels of her sleep as if they were the lines of a poem she had forgotten. Terra rosa, moon glow, raw umber.”
Gorgeous.
I was not surprised to learn, from reading an interview with the author, that when asked for the original “spark” that ignited the novel, she made several visual references from “peering into a kaleidoscope” to “an emerald lizard [flashing] across the ceiling beams”.
I loved the way different layers of Clare unfolded, how deeply the author delved into her emotions, motivations and thoughts. Experiencing her personal development was another of the book’s draws for me.
An intriguing story, beautifully told, by an author of outstanding talent.
I was in awe of the author’s deft handling of the complex structure of the novel, but I was especially taken with the language. Lambert is a consummate stylist who manages to capture things and emotions in words both stunningly apt and original.
Claire, the book’s main character, is a botanical artist, and I found Lambert’s style perfectly suited to describing her work and the work of other artists. I also loved the way physical descriptions segue into states of mind:
“Much later — all night — the colours of Nikki’s shadow paintings pooled in Clare’s dreams, and those words ran through the channels of her sleep as if they were the lines of a poem she had forgotten. Terra rosa, moon glow, raw umber.”
Gorgeous.
I was not surprised to learn, from reading an interview with the author, that when asked for the original “spark” that ignited the novel, she made several visual references from “peering into a kaleidoscope” to “an emerald lizard [flashing] across the ceiling beams”.
I loved the way different layers of Clare unfolded, how deeply the author delved into her emotions, motivations and thoughts. Experiencing her personal development was another of the book’s draws for me.
An intriguing story, beautifully told, by an author of outstanding talent.
December 22, 2014
Rating: 4.5
A marvelous novel - part mystery, part romance, with an evocative Italian setting. The food, the scents and people and architecture - I savoured all of it. What I most admired about this novel, though, was the protagonist, Clare. She is so flawed, and yet that's what makes her feel honest and authentic. Lines like these had me folding page corners:
"How odd this barrier was, that separated her from what she could be if she were different..."
"Maybe her entire life had not been about her...."
I particularly loved how Clare found truth in her work - and yet there is a layer of fiction even in that.
One of my other favourite lines is this one: "He stared at her with such alarming intensity that she wondered if he was going to ask her to read his thesis." Actually laughed out loud, and for a long time.
Lambert takes care with her secondary characters as well. Marta's meddling made me laugh, and Nikki's odd fascination with Clare was both disturbing and intriguing.
The only thing that stopped me from giving this book 5 stars was the ending, which seemed to jump around more than it needed to. But that is a small point. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
A marvelous novel - part mystery, part romance, with an evocative Italian setting. The food, the scents and people and architecture - I savoured all of it. What I most admired about this novel, though, was the protagonist, Clare. She is so flawed, and yet that's what makes her feel honest and authentic. Lines like these had me folding page corners:
"How odd this barrier was, that separated her from what she could be if she were different..."
"Maybe her entire life had not been about her...."
I particularly loved how Clare found truth in her work - and yet there is a layer of fiction even in that.
One of my other favourite lines is this one: "He stared at her with such alarming intensity that she wondered if he was going to ask her to read his thesis." Actually laughed out loud, and for a long time.
Lambert takes care with her secondary characters as well. Marta's meddling made me laugh, and Nikki's odd fascination with Clare was both disturbing and intriguing.
The only thing that stopped me from giving this book 5 stars was the ending, which seemed to jump around more than it needed to. But that is a small point. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews