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The Sixteen Pleasures
When book conservator Margo Harrington goes to Florence to aid in restoring the treasures damaged in the flooding of the Arno in 1966, she is entrusted with a rare book that its owner, the abbess of a convent, hopes to sell without the bishop's knowledge. (Nancy Pearl)
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
215 people are currently reading
2027 people want to read
About the author
Robert Hellenga
11 books65 followersRobert Hellenga was an American novelist, essayist, and short story author.
His eight novels included The Sixteen Pleasures, The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons, Philosophy Made Simple, The Italian Lover, Snakewoman of Little Egypt, The Confessions of Frances Godwin and Love, Death, & Rare Books. In addition to these works, he wrote a novella, Six Weeks in Verona, along with a collection of short stories in The Truth About Death and Other Stories. Hellenga also published scholarly essays and literary or travel essays in various venues, including The National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times Sophisticated Traveler, and The Gettysburg Review.
Hellenga was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Milwaukee and Three Oaks, Michigan. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan and his graduate work at the Queen’s University of Belfast, the University of North Carolina, and Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton and began teaching English literature at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1968. In 1973–74 he was co-director of the ACM Seminar in the Humanities at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and in 1982–83 he directed the ACM Florence programs in Florence, Italy. He also worked and studied in Bologna, Verona, and Rome. He was distinguished writer in residence and professor emeritus at Knox College. Hellenga was married and had three daughters.
Hellenga received awards for his fiction from the Illinois Arts Council and from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Sixteen Pleasures received The Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction published in 1994. The Fall of a Sparrow was included in the Los Angeles Times list of the "Best Fiction of 1998" and the Publishers Weekly list of the "Best 98 Books." Snakewoman of Little Egypt, was included in The Washington Post's list of "The Best Novels of 2010" and Kirkus Reviews' list of "2010 Best Fiction: The Top 25." The audio version of Snakewoman was a 2011 Audie Award Winner for Literary Fiction. The Confessions of Frances Godwin received The Society of Midland Authors' Award for fiction published in 2014.
Hellenga died of neuroendocrine cancer on July 18, 2020, at his home in Galesburg, Illinois.
His eight novels included The Sixteen Pleasures, The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons, Philosophy Made Simple, The Italian Lover, Snakewoman of Little Egypt, The Confessions of Frances Godwin and Love, Death, & Rare Books. In addition to these works, he wrote a novella, Six Weeks in Verona, along with a collection of short stories in The Truth About Death and Other Stories. Hellenga also published scholarly essays and literary or travel essays in various venues, including The National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times Sophisticated Traveler, and The Gettysburg Review.
Hellenga was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Milwaukee and Three Oaks, Michigan. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan and his graduate work at the Queen’s University of Belfast, the University of North Carolina, and Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton and began teaching English literature at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1968. In 1973–74 he was co-director of the ACM Seminar in the Humanities at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and in 1982–83 he directed the ACM Florence programs in Florence, Italy. He also worked and studied in Bologna, Verona, and Rome. He was distinguished writer in residence and professor emeritus at Knox College. Hellenga was married and had three daughters.
Hellenga received awards for his fiction from the Illinois Arts Council and from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Sixteen Pleasures received The Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction published in 1994. The Fall of a Sparrow was included in the Los Angeles Times list of the "Best Fiction of 1998" and the Publishers Weekly list of the "Best 98 Books." Snakewoman of Little Egypt, was included in The Washington Post's list of "The Best Novels of 2010" and Kirkus Reviews' list of "2010 Best Fiction: The Top 25." The audio version of Snakewoman was a 2011 Audie Award Winner for Literary Fiction. The Confessions of Frances Godwin received The Society of Midland Authors' Award for fiction published in 2014.
Hellenga died of neuroendocrine cancer on July 18, 2020, at his home in Galesburg, Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 417 reviews
January 10, 2018
Where I Want to Be
I have been hearing about this book for years, but had put off reading it, partly because of the simply dreadful design of its original cover and the implication in the blurb that it was a recherché erotic romp. But I was wrong. Sex is one of its subjects, yes, but so are religion, history, Italian life, book-binding, and art. The novel might almost have been written for at least the younger me.
When the news of the flooding of the River Arno came through in November 1966, I was a junior lecturer in art history, showing slides of the very art works that were now under threat. As American book-restorer Margot Harrington travels to Florence on an overnight train, I was reminded of my own penny-pinching trips as a student, walking around the city or going up the hill to Fiesole, which is the only place where Margot can find a room. She eventually ends up in the Carmelite Convent, where she guides the nuns in the rescue of their precious book collection, part of the dowry of a Medici princess who joined the order in the seventeenth century; not an experience that I have had, certainly, though I have stayed in an Italian monastery.
One of the nuns working under Margot's direction finds, bound for concealment in the back of a regular prayer book, a collection of sixteen sonnets by Pietro Aretino, each accompanied by an engraving by Giulio Romano. Erotic engravings, naturally, for the "Sixteen Pleasures" are sexual positions, like a renaissance Kama Sutra, and the varieties of love-making go far beyond the missionary arrangement. In fact, these engravings exist and can now be found on line—I'll add a small shot of one of the tamer page openings as a spoiler below—but Hellenga supposes that this is the sole surviving copy of the banned book, and thus immensely valuable. If, that is to say, the Bishop of Florence permits the Abbess to sell it. But the two are at daggers drawn, so the Abbess asks Margot to restore the book and use it, if she can, for the convent's benefit.
I have always enjoyed books written from an intimate knowledge of a technical subject, by any author from Herman Melville to Dick Francis. Hellenga has many such arcana: bibliography, book conservation and binding, fresco restoration, the auction business, legal procedures in the Vatican courts, and life in the Carmelite order. Readers should perhaps be warned that there are chapters where the story of Margot's adventures virtually stops for the author to enlarge on one of these interests, but I always felt I was learning a lot. And the religious aspect is more than the sharing of information. While Margot has a lapsed Protestant's cynicism about Catholic doctrine, she feels a growing closeness to these Sisters as women, and so do we.
Of all the many different threads of Margot's story—professional, extralegal, and romantic—none is as important as the matter of discovering who she is as a human being. The first chapter, in which she risks her prestigious job at Chicago's Newberry Library to travel to Florence, bears the title "Where I Want to Be." It is not as simple as just getting there, and a lot will happen before we take our leave of her in a Florentine piazza, but the ending is nonetheless right:
I have been hearing about this book for years, but had put off reading it, partly because of the simply dreadful design of its original cover and the implication in the blurb that it was a recherché erotic romp. But I was wrong. Sex is one of its subjects, yes, but so are religion, history, Italian life, book-binding, and art. The novel might almost have been written for at least the younger me.
When the news of the flooding of the River Arno came through in November 1966, I was a junior lecturer in art history, showing slides of the very art works that were now under threat. As American book-restorer Margot Harrington travels to Florence on an overnight train, I was reminded of my own penny-pinching trips as a student, walking around the city or going up the hill to Fiesole, which is the only place where Margot can find a room. She eventually ends up in the Carmelite Convent, where she guides the nuns in the rescue of their precious book collection, part of the dowry of a Medici princess who joined the order in the seventeenth century; not an experience that I have had, certainly, though I have stayed in an Italian monastery.
One of the nuns working under Margot's direction finds, bound for concealment in the back of a regular prayer book, a collection of sixteen sonnets by Pietro Aretino, each accompanied by an engraving by Giulio Romano. Erotic engravings, naturally, for the "Sixteen Pleasures" are sexual positions, like a renaissance Kama Sutra, and the varieties of love-making go far beyond the missionary arrangement. In fact, these engravings exist and can now be found on line—I'll add a small shot of one of the tamer page openings as a spoiler below—but Hellenga supposes that this is the sole surviving copy of the banned book, and thus immensely valuable. If, that is to say, the Bishop of Florence permits the Abbess to sell it. But the two are at daggers drawn, so the Abbess asks Margot to restore the book and use it, if she can, for the convent's benefit.
I have always enjoyed books written from an intimate knowledge of a technical subject, by any author from Herman Melville to Dick Francis. Hellenga has many such arcana: bibliography, book conservation and binding, fresco restoration, the auction business, legal procedures in the Vatican courts, and life in the Carmelite order. Readers should perhaps be warned that there are chapters where the story of Margot's adventures virtually stops for the author to enlarge on one of these interests, but I always felt I was learning a lot. And the religious aspect is more than the sharing of information. While Margot has a lapsed Protestant's cynicism about Catholic doctrine, she feels a growing closeness to these Sisters as women, and so do we.
Of all the many different threads of Margot's story—professional, extralegal, and romantic—none is as important as the matter of discovering who she is as a human being. The first chapter, in which she risks her prestigious job at Chicago's Newberry Library to travel to Florence, bears the title "Where I Want to Be." It is not as simple as just getting there, and a lot will happen before we take our leave of her in a Florentine piazza, but the ending is nonetheless right:
There's no goal implied in a piazza, no destination. It's a place to be, and not just anyplace either. Of all the places I might have been at 7:34 p.m. on 20 giugno 1967, it was where I wanted to be.
November 7, 2009
The Sixteen Pleasures purports to take place just after the great flood of 1966 that devastated much of the city of Florence and its artistic treasures. Margot Harrington, a young American bookbinder, goes off to try and help preserve some of the cities' treasured old books, and in the process, becomes embroiled with an older Italian man, finds herself, etc., etc., etc.
I have no idea why Robert Hellenga chose to write from the perspective of a young woman, because he's really bad at it. Margot doesn't sound - ever - like a real person, but like a middle-aged man's idea of what a young woman would sound like (particularly in her love affairs!) Moreover, despite the fact that this novel is set in the late 1960s, I get no sense of the period whatsoever from it - it could be taking place in 1986 or 1996 or whenever. And finally, I was intensely annoyed by the author's habit of writing out a phrase in a foreign language and then immediately translating it into English so we would realize that people were speaking Italian or French, when it was immediately clear from context that they were speaking those languages and there was no need, other than showing off, to add in those phrases.
The Sixteen Pleasures did at least make me want to go back to Florence so I didn't hate it completely, but I was delighted to get rid of my copy immediately after finishing it, and I won't be seeking out anything else by Robert Hellenga, no matter how many critical props he gets!
I have no idea why Robert Hellenga chose to write from the perspective of a young woman, because he's really bad at it. Margot doesn't sound - ever - like a real person, but like a middle-aged man's idea of what a young woman would sound like (particularly in her love affairs!) Moreover, despite the fact that this novel is set in the late 1960s, I get no sense of the period whatsoever from it - it could be taking place in 1986 or 1996 or whenever. And finally, I was intensely annoyed by the author's habit of writing out a phrase in a foreign language and then immediately translating it into English so we would realize that people were speaking Italian or French, when it was immediately clear from context that they were speaking those languages and there was no need, other than showing off, to add in those phrases.
The Sixteen Pleasures did at least make me want to go back to Florence so I didn't hate it completely, but I was delighted to get rid of my copy immediately after finishing it, and I won't be seeking out anything else by Robert Hellenga, no matter how many critical props he gets!
May 13, 2022
Set in Florence after the Arno flood of 1966, this is the story of Margot Harrington, 29-year-old American book conservator, who travels to Italy to volunteer in the restoration of books damaged in the flood. Margot has experienced a number of disappointments, and she hopes Florence will help set a positive course for her future. She has trouble finding a place to stay and is directed to a Carmelite convent. The nuns discover a rare Renaissance manuscript of sixteen erotic poems and drawings. The abbess asks Margot to get involved in selling the manuscript to raise funds to save the convent’s beloved library. Margot meets and falls in love with the married cousin of the abbess, Dottor Alessandro Postiglione, an art restorer. The storyline revolves around Margot’s journey of self-discovery.
There are many interwoven threads in this novel, which are addressed in lengthy detailed passages, such as techniques of book and art restoration, reflections on convent life, and the methods by which a canonical court decides whether to grant an annulment. At the same time, we follow Margot’s initial thoughts of joining a convent, then veering into a sexual relationship with Alessandro. We learn about her family’s history.
I enjoyed very much the manner in which Margot (eventually) resists being controlled by men who want to take advantage of her and get their hands on the manuscript. My favorite parts were the descriptions of life in the convent. I was less enamored of the sexual relationship with a much older man. Hellenga’s writing is elegant and witty. It is a novel of devotion to craft, passion, and the fortitude to change one’s life for the better.
There are many interwoven threads in this novel, which are addressed in lengthy detailed passages, such as techniques of book and art restoration, reflections on convent life, and the methods by which a canonical court decides whether to grant an annulment. At the same time, we follow Margot’s initial thoughts of joining a convent, then veering into a sexual relationship with Alessandro. We learn about her family’s history.
I enjoyed very much the manner in which Margot (eventually) resists being controlled by men who want to take advantage of her and get their hands on the manuscript. My favorite parts were the descriptions of life in the convent. I was less enamored of the sexual relationship with a much older man. Hellenga’s writing is elegant and witty. It is a novel of devotion to craft, passion, and the fortitude to change one’s life for the better.
January 19, 2016
The Sixteen Pleasures, Robert Hellenga's first published novel gave readers a taste for his intricate writing which weaves characterization, relationships, interesting details of time, place, skills, food, music and plot. In this way Robert Hellenga encapsulates all ones senses in the story.
We first meet Margot Harrington, in November of 1966. She is 29 and a book conservator and feeling stuck while the ticking hands of time leave her behind. The river Arno has flooded and she feels drawn to Florence, Italy a city she has lived in previously with her mother during a year abroad.
So she journeys to Italy and while living at Santa Caterina, a Carmelite convent an incredible opportunity of restoring a one of a kind book, an Aretino or Sixteen Pleasures.
This is not a simple story, it is complex interweaving so many different themes of relationships, happiness and place in the world, with details of convent life, and immersing one in the feel of life in Florence in the 1960's.
I so enjoy Hellenga's writing. Here is a short excerpt:
What could Mam have said that would have altered the course of our lives?
I think about this question a lot -- not all the time, but often enough--without coming any closer to an answer. All I know is that my life is filled with little pockets of silence. When I put a record on the turntable, for example, there a little interval-- between the time the needle touches down on the record and the time the music actually starts -- during which my heart refuses to beat. All I know is that between the rings of the telephone, between the touch of a button and the sound of the radio coming on between the dimming of the lights at the cinema and the start of the film, between the lifting of a baton and the opening bars of symphony, between the dropping of a stone and the plunk that comes back from the bottom of a well between the ringing of the doorbell and the barking of the dogs I sometimes catch myself, involuntarily listening for the sound of my mother's voice, still waiting for the tape to begin"
Such a rich luscious book, I find my self sorry that I only have a few Hellengas yet to read.
We first meet Margot Harrington, in November of 1966. She is 29 and a book conservator and feeling stuck while the ticking hands of time leave her behind. The river Arno has flooded and she feels drawn to Florence, Italy a city she has lived in previously with her mother during a year abroad.
So she journeys to Italy and while living at Santa Caterina, a Carmelite convent an incredible opportunity of restoring a one of a kind book, an Aretino or Sixteen Pleasures.
This is not a simple story, it is complex interweaving so many different themes of relationships, happiness and place in the world, with details of convent life, and immersing one in the feel of life in Florence in the 1960's.
I so enjoy Hellenga's writing. Here is a short excerpt:
What could Mam have said that would have altered the course of our lives?
I think about this question a lot -- not all the time, but often enough--without coming any closer to an answer. All I know is that my life is filled with little pockets of silence. When I put a record on the turntable, for example, there a little interval-- between the time the needle touches down on the record and the time the music actually starts -- during which my heart refuses to beat. All I know is that between the rings of the telephone, between the touch of a button and the sound of the radio coming on between the dimming of the lights at the cinema and the start of the film, between the lifting of a baton and the opening bars of symphony, between the dropping of a stone and the plunk that comes back from the bottom of a well between the ringing of the doorbell and the barking of the dogs I sometimes catch myself, involuntarily listening for the sound of my mother's voice, still waiting for the tape to begin"
Such a rich luscious book, I find my self sorry that I only have a few Hellengas yet to read.
September 23, 2008
I'm not really sure why I had high hopes for this book. I'd never heard of it, never read any reviews. I guess I expected something different after reading the blurb on the back of the book, which was completely misleading. The real story had a good premise, and the writing was good, but I was mad that the sexuality was so tame. Anyway, the book is about a young woman, Margot, in the 1960s who travels to Italy to restore books that were damaged in a flood in Florence. She'd spent time in Florence as a teenager and felt a strong sense of nostalgia and yearning for it. Margot returned because she'd hit her quarter-life crisis and wanted to do something meaningful with her life. She works to repair and restore damaged books there, and winds up coming into possession of the last remaining copy of what is called The Sixteen Pleasures, an erotic book that had been assumed destroyed by the pope. She comes of age in Florence, while struggling with what she should do with the book and how to go about it.
The blurb led me to believe that it would be more about this young woman's sexual growth - that she would embark on a journey with the sixteen pleasures mentioned in the damaged book with her lover - but there was hardly any mention of it. Her relationship with Sandro happened very fast, and I think we were supposed to imagine that they were reading the erotic poems and acting it out, without much mention of it. I didn't find the relationship very credible, and never really liked Sandro. He didn't strike me as a trustworthy man, and I was never sure what Margot saw in him. So that was disappointing.
I think that the author's main strength was found when describing the setting and Margot's careful restoration, rather than in her relationship with Sandro. He was hard to like, and she was hard to like when she was with him. I wasn't nearly as seduced by him or by Florence during that period of Margot's life as she was. The book was more interesting without him around, when she was working on her own to salvage books - then, she was a strong, independent young woman who was truly coming of age, rather than just another 20-something who was moping over a married lover.
The blurb led me to believe that it would be more about this young woman's sexual growth - that she would embark on a journey with the sixteen pleasures mentioned in the damaged book with her lover - but there was hardly any mention of it. Her relationship with Sandro happened very fast, and I think we were supposed to imagine that they were reading the erotic poems and acting it out, without much mention of it. I didn't find the relationship very credible, and never really liked Sandro. He didn't strike me as a trustworthy man, and I was never sure what Margot saw in him. So that was disappointing.
I think that the author's main strength was found when describing the setting and Margot's careful restoration, rather than in her relationship with Sandro. He was hard to like, and she was hard to like when she was with him. I wasn't nearly as seduced by him or by Florence during that period of Margot's life as she was. The book was more interesting without him around, when she was working on her own to salvage books - then, she was a strong, independent young woman who was truly coming of age, rather than just another 20-something who was moping over a married lover.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2010
While I found the story engaging enough, and even liked the female protagonist, I have to admit to being rather disappointed with this book. In particular:
1. This was one of the worst proofread books I've ever (attempted to!) read. I know the author has no control over this, but it was distracting enough to knock it down a full star for me. And if I was the author I would be mortified to see my work thus presented. I'm not talking about comma usage or grammar... this book is full of misspellings, hyphens in the wrong place and the like. Since many passages include Italian words, it's particularly difficult.
2. I didn't care for the drastic change of voice. This is not the only book I've read like this, but I didn't like it any better in other books. If the POV of the protagonist isn't strong enough to sustain a first person narration throughout, I'd rather it all be presented in third person so the jump in POV isn't as jarring. Besides, Sandro's POV was not interesting enough to me to warrant it anyway, especially when his crucial decision about his relationship with Margot is decided when the voice has switched back to Margot's and we don't have any of Sandro's reasoning behind it.
3. Is the story about Margot's blossoming? Her family? The book? The convent? Sandro? It's all of these things certainly, and perhaps too many things... when talk of the book and the convent disappear completely for pages it lost focus for me.
All in all, I would not completely discourage others from reading The Sixteen Pleasures. It has much to commend it, but the points related above were enough to make me wish it was a better crafted book on the page both literally and figuratively.
Addition: after reading some of the other reviews, I would be remiss in not mentioning the erotic aspect of the book. It would be easier to comment, though, if the selling point was evident, which it was not really. People having sex is rarely erotic - and key parts of description use Italian words/phrases. Hard to get into it if you're unfamiliar with the terminology! If the reason you want to read this book has to do with the marketing on the back cover, you will be disappointed...
1. This was one of the worst proofread books I've ever (attempted to!) read. I know the author has no control over this, but it was distracting enough to knock it down a full star for me. And if I was the author I would be mortified to see my work thus presented. I'm not talking about comma usage or grammar... this book is full of misspellings, hyphens in the wrong place and the like. Since many passages include Italian words, it's particularly difficult.
2. I didn't care for the drastic change of voice. This is not the only book I've read like this, but I didn't like it any better in other books. If the POV of the protagonist isn't strong enough to sustain a first person narration throughout, I'd rather it all be presented in third person so the jump in POV isn't as jarring. Besides, Sandro's POV was not interesting enough to me to warrant it anyway, especially when his crucial decision about his relationship with Margot is decided when the voice has switched back to Margot's and we don't have any of Sandro's reasoning behind it.
3. Is the story about Margot's blossoming? Her family? The book? The convent? Sandro? It's all of these things certainly, and perhaps too many things... when talk of the book and the convent disappear completely for pages it lost focus for me.
All in all, I would not completely discourage others from reading The Sixteen Pleasures. It has much to commend it, but the points related above were enough to make me wish it was a better crafted book on the page both literally and figuratively.
Addition: after reading some of the other reviews, I would be remiss in not mentioning the erotic aspect of the book. It would be easier to comment, though, if the selling point was evident, which it was not really. People having sex is rarely erotic - and key parts of description use Italian words/phrases. Hard to get into it if you're unfamiliar with the terminology! If the reason you want to read this book has to do with the marketing on the back cover, you will be disappointed...
July 19, 2019
Margot is a book conservator and has headed to Florence, Italy to help restore some books after a flood in 1966. She ends up in a convent, helping the nuns with their library, where she finds a rare 17th century book with erotic poems and pictures. The nuns would like to sell the book and be able to use the money, but the books and the library are owned by the bishop and they know he won’t allow it.
This was ok. I found the book conservation parts of it interesting, but I really didn’t like Margot, nor any of the other characters, except for the nuns. It was a bit difficult to figure out right at the start, as it flipped back and forth in time and was a bit hard to tell where we were (in time), but that didn’t last long. It was pretty slow-moving, but it was ok. An author's note would have been nice.
This was ok. I found the book conservation parts of it interesting, but I really didn’t like Margot, nor any of the other characters, except for the nuns. It was a bit difficult to figure out right at the start, as it flipped back and forth in time and was a bit hard to tell where we were (in time), but that didn’t last long. It was pretty slow-moving, but it was ok. An author's note would have been nice.
June 20, 2008
There is a paragraph near the end of the book that explains my feelings for the book itself:
"Have you ever read a great novel, or listened to a great symphony, or stood in front of a great work of art, and felt - absolutely nothing? You try to open yourself to the text, the music, the painting, but you have no power to respond. Nothing moves you. You are turned to stone. You feel guilty."
I have read wonderful things about this book, but it just didn't do anything for me. I still gave it four stars, though, because it is a beautiful story of discovery. I believe that if I ever go to Florence, Italy, I should bring this book along because Florence is described in beautiful detail in it.
"Have you ever read a great novel, or listened to a great symphony, or stood in front of a great work of art, and felt - absolutely nothing? You try to open yourself to the text, the music, the painting, but you have no power to respond. Nothing moves you. You are turned to stone. You feel guilty."
I have read wonderful things about this book, but it just didn't do anything for me. I still gave it four stars, though, because it is a beautiful story of discovery. I believe that if I ever go to Florence, Italy, I should bring this book along because Florence is described in beautiful detail in it.
December 5, 2006
Another get away and dream of Italy book.
From Amazon:
In 1966, 29-year-old Margot Harrington heads off to Florence, intent on doing her bit to protect its precious books from the great floods--and equally intent on adventure. Serendipity, in the shape of the man she'll fall in love with, leads her to an abbey run by the most knowing of abbesses and work on its library begins. One day a nun comes upon a shockingly pornographic volume, bound with a prayer book. It turns out to be Aretino's lost erotic sonnets, accompanied by some rather anatomical engravings. Since the pope had ordered all copies of the Sixteen Pleasures burned, it could be worth a fortune and keep the convent autonomous. The abbess asks Margot to take care of the book and check into its worth: "We have to be cunning as serpents and innocent as doves," she warns.
Soon our heroine finds her identity increasingly "tangled up" with the volume and with Dottor Postiglione, a man with an instinct for happiness--but also one for self-preservation. Margot enjoys the secrecy and the craft (the chapters in which she rebinds the folios are among the book's finest). Much of the book's pleasure stems from Robert Hellenga's easy knowledge, which extends to Italian complexities. Where else would you learn that, in cases of impotence, legal depositions are insufficient: "Modern couples often take the precaution of sending postcards to each other from the time of their engagement, leaving the message space blank so that it can be filled in later if the couple wishes to establish grounds for an annulment." Luckily, however, there are also shops that sell old postcards, "along with the appropriate writing instruments and inks."
From Amazon:
In 1966, 29-year-old Margot Harrington heads off to Florence, intent on doing her bit to protect its precious books from the great floods--and equally intent on adventure. Serendipity, in the shape of the man she'll fall in love with, leads her to an abbey run by the most knowing of abbesses and work on its library begins. One day a nun comes upon a shockingly pornographic volume, bound with a prayer book. It turns out to be Aretino's lost erotic sonnets, accompanied by some rather anatomical engravings. Since the pope had ordered all copies of the Sixteen Pleasures burned, it could be worth a fortune and keep the convent autonomous. The abbess asks Margot to take care of the book and check into its worth: "We have to be cunning as serpents and innocent as doves," she warns.
Soon our heroine finds her identity increasingly "tangled up" with the volume and with Dottor Postiglione, a man with an instinct for happiness--but also one for self-preservation. Margot enjoys the secrecy and the craft (the chapters in which she rebinds the folios are among the book's finest). Much of the book's pleasure stems from Robert Hellenga's easy knowledge, which extends to Italian complexities. Where else would you learn that, in cases of impotence, legal depositions are insufficient: "Modern couples often take the precaution of sending postcards to each other from the time of their engagement, leaving the message space blank so that it can be filled in later if the couple wishes to establish grounds for an annulment." Luckily, however, there are also shops that sell old postcards, "along with the appropriate writing instruments and inks."
October 13, 2008
With very little forethought or planning, our spirited heroine, Margot Harrington, leaves the security of her low-paying job restoring books at the Newberry Library and heads for Europe. She throws herself headlong into an exhilarating Italian adventure, her destination the ancient city of Florence where recent floods have ravaged a historic part of the city. Priceless pieces of art, artifacts, and books lie beneath a layer of mud and the city needs volunteers to help with the cleanup. Margot becomes a volunteeer. We suddenly find ourselves pulled along with her on a captivating if sometimes heartbreaking journey of self-dicovery and rebirth.
Florence provides endless pleasures. It is a city filled with quaint shops and restaurants, picturesque streets and vistas, and masterpieces of art and architecture everwhere. There is a passionate affair with Santo, the married Italian doctor, and the discovery of an amazing collection of pricless books hidden away at a Carmelite convent.
The greatest pleasure in this book is a slim volume, the erotic Aretino itself, tucked away in the convent library. The almost voluptuous descriptions of its meticulous restoration were worth the price of the book for me. Margot's "love affair" with and passion for the Aretino becomes all-consuming, helping her to rise above personal loss, and eventually giving her the sense of purpose and identity she has been lacking. Never tedious, maudling or sappy, this book was a pleasure from beginning to end. I would read it again. Loved it!
Florence provides endless pleasures. It is a city filled with quaint shops and restaurants, picturesque streets and vistas, and masterpieces of art and architecture everwhere. There is a passionate affair with Santo, the married Italian doctor, and the discovery of an amazing collection of pricless books hidden away at a Carmelite convent.
The greatest pleasure in this book is a slim volume, the erotic Aretino itself, tucked away in the convent library. The almost voluptuous descriptions of its meticulous restoration were worth the price of the book for me. Margot's "love affair" with and passion for the Aretino becomes all-consuming, helping her to rise above personal loss, and eventually giving her the sense of purpose and identity she has been lacking. Never tedious, maudling or sappy, this book was a pleasure from beginning to end. I would read it again. Loved it!
April 10, 2016
This book had a wonderful start, and the main character was so well-defined. I loved her nostalgic moments, and stories of her family and travels. I also liked the Italian lessons I got from the book. The premise of the book was quite fascinating--the "Mud Angels", the book restoration and conservation. The convent scenes were also well-written, and I found myself very interested in the lives of these nuns. There were so many good things about the book, although there were a few sections of the book that I was unclear of what was going on, and what it had to do with the overall story... I loved her plan to help the convent's library, and escape the notice of the bishop.
On the back cover it states that she embarks on the "sixteen pleasures" mentioned in the book... with her "forbidden lover"... I thought this was too dramatic--Sandro was not forbidden, and she did not make a big deal about going through each of the pleasures as the back cover synopsis would have you think...
On the back cover it states that she embarks on the "sixteen pleasures" mentioned in the book... with her "forbidden lover"... I thought this was too dramatic--Sandro was not forbidden, and she did not make a big deal about going through each of the pleasures as the back cover synopsis would have you think...
June 1, 2017
This is a story about an American woman who travels to Florence in 1967 to help save rare books and artworks after the flood. While living there in a convent she discovers a 16th century book of artistically rendered porn and faces a series of challenges. The writing was a bit inconsistent but I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of book conservation, Italian art, the Catholic religion, Florence after the flood, as well as Italian life, laws, and food.
January 15, 2018
I loved this book. Hellenga's characters are so real. I love when I hear myself saying "no, don't" or "go for it" to a character of print. It tells me that the author has done the job - brought me right there into the story. I only gave a four because I found the end a little wanting. A book this intense should have a powerful ending and I don't think it did. Still a great book.
April 19, 2017
This engrossing novel follows the adventures of Margot Harrington, a book conservator who travels to Italy in 1966 to help recover and restore rare and antique books after the flood in Florence. Margot begins working in a convent, where a rare and valuable book of Renaissance erotica is discovered. As she restores the book and becomes involved with the process of selling it, Margot also beings a passionate affair with an older man, an art restorer also working in Florence.
I loved the way Hellenga treated Margot's love affair and her work restoring the book with an equal amount of detail, passion, and sensuality. I also really liked Margot, especially her bravery in following her dreams and longings, and her bravery in facing herself and getting on with her life even in the face of deep loss. I also happy about the way the book, its restoration, and its sale, not her love affair and its ending, are the drivers for Margot's self-discovery and emerging control over her own life.
I loved the way Hellenga treated Margot's love affair and her work restoring the book with an equal amount of detail, passion, and sensuality. I also really liked Margot, especially her bravery in following her dreams and longings, and her bravery in facing herself and getting on with her life even in the face of deep loss. I also happy about the way the book, its restoration, and its sale, not her love affair and its ending, are the drivers for Margot's self-discovery and emerging control over her own life.
December 20, 2020
I really enjoyed this novel of a young woman, Margot, a book conservator from Chicago, going to Florence as a "mud angel," a person to help with the disastrous aftermath of the 1966 flood which destroyed or damaged untold artistic treasures: paintings, books, frescoes, etc. People from all over the world came to help with the restoration and conservation of the until then secret procedures handed down from one artisan to another. It's basically the story of the woman finding herself as they say, immersing herself in various levels of the Italian culture, a fairly detailed explanation of some of the restoration techniques, a love story and an adventure with a rare book. I liked it also because it was quite unpredictable, filled with twists and turns.
February 8, 2024
Following the 1966 flooding of the Arno River in Italy, many volunteers from all over the world rushed to help assist in repairing the damage done to the treasures of Florence. The narrator of this novel is one of those volunteers, an American book conservator from the Newberry Library. In addition to lending her professional expertise, she experiences a lot of personal growth, falling in love for the first time. An older professor, who is also involved with the rescue of priceless books and manuscripts, becomes her lover. The development of their relationship drives much of the emotional tension characterizing this book. I will not reveal any more. But I can say it was a worthwhile investment of tome.
July 13, 2025
PROS: I love learning about book conservation, and I’ve always been fascinated with the stories of the ‘Mud Angels’, and all those who helped restore the treasures that were damaged in the 1966 Arno floods in Florence, so given that this was the premise of this book, I was hooked.
And for me, it delivered.
I was swept up in Margot’s experiences of being in Florence during this time and offering her book conservation skills. When she ends up living in a convent, helping the nuns with their damaged rare books, she comes across a fabulous volume of 16 erotic drawings by Giulio Romano, accompanying 16 steamy sonnets by Pietro Aretino.
Entrusted to bring it back to life, and then sell it, without the bishop knowing, she embarks on an adventure of a lifetime and even dabbles in some romance with an Italian art restorer. And I was with her all the way!
CONS: There are some longwinded side-stories/unnecessary backstories that took me away from what Margot was doing in Florence, so I must admit that I did read quickly over these/even skipped some. Felt they were disruptive to the main plot thread.
And for me, it delivered.
I was swept up in Margot’s experiences of being in Florence during this time and offering her book conservation skills. When she ends up living in a convent, helping the nuns with their damaged rare books, she comes across a fabulous volume of 16 erotic drawings by Giulio Romano, accompanying 16 steamy sonnets by Pietro Aretino.
Entrusted to bring it back to life, and then sell it, without the bishop knowing, she embarks on an adventure of a lifetime and even dabbles in some romance with an Italian art restorer. And I was with her all the way!
CONS: There are some longwinded side-stories/unnecessary backstories that took me away from what Margot was doing in Florence, so I must admit that I did read quickly over these/even skipped some. Felt they were disruptive to the main plot thread.
November 24, 2021
This book isn't bad, just too boring to force myself to finish it. In the spirit of not wasting time on mediocre books I have to move on. There are some interesting parts about bookbinding and conservation but the reviews were definitely over-selling.
May 12, 2023
Good historical fiction set in Florence, Italy after the horrible flood of 1966. The heroine, Margot, is a book conservator, who begins her exciting saga while staying with Carmelite nuns. There is a surprising discovery which drives the narrative. In addition, the amazing stories about saving art works sets a great backdrop.
August 13, 2024
Apparently this book was popular in art history circles some years back, and I can see why, with its plot centered on a collection of valuable 16th century erotic prints in need of restoration. Our heroine is in Florence to assist with book repair and restoration after floods, and she is deeply involved with the erotic book and its sixteen pleasures on a professional and personal basis.
I found the central love story believable and that is the strength of this book. I found the description of repairs to books and frescoes didactic and somewhat tedious. But it's always nice to spend time in Italy and this book gives you that.
I found the central love story believable and that is the strength of this book. I found the description of repairs to books and frescoes didactic and somewhat tedious. But it's always nice to spend time in Italy and this book gives you that.
May 18, 2024
I didn't finish this because I read 150 pages and was struggling. Just very boring. I am trying to let myself not finish books, though, because life is too short!
February 28, 2024
I picked this up because I love books. I am interested in the preservation and restoration of books. So the description of this book caught my eye. The 70 or so pages that told the story of the flooding of the Arno and the resulting struggle to save the antiquities was interesting. I enjoyed that section. The rest of the story line didn't seem connected to what I thought was to be the plot.
February 27, 2010
The book, "The Sixteen Pleasures" is covered in praise, and the all-telling mark of "National Best Seller." I kept going back to the declarations that read "…an erotic book about an erotic book…","…a genuine literary treasure…", "…an adventure under pressure…," and "…amazing…how intensely you care about this women."
"Have you ever read a great novel, or listened to a great symphony, or stood in front of a great work of art, and felt absolutely nothing?" (The Sixteen Pleasures, pg 354)
"Have you ever read a great novel, or listened to a great symphony, or stood in front of a great work of art, and felt absolutely nothing?" (The Sixteen Pleasures, pg 354)
February 29, 2016
The Sixteen Pleasures – Robert Hellenga
4 stars
“What is amazing is how intensely you care about this woman” – The New Yorker
That quote appears on the back cover of my battered paperback copy of The Sixteen Pleasures. It’s true. I did come to care a great deal about Margot Harrington and her 1966 sojourn of self-discovery in flood stricken Florence. However, the truly amazing thing is how accurately Robert Hellenga managed to capture the inner voice and personality of a young woman.
Margot is 29 and dissatisfied with her life. Her mother’s death interrupted the future she thought she would have and seems to have set her adrift. In the aftermath of the flood, she takes her skills as a book conservator to Florence to help with the clean-up. She ends up in a convent, helping the sisters rescue their library. In the convent library, they find a Renaissance masterpiece of erotic verse with pictures. Margot restores the book, and helps the convent realize the profits form its sale.
Margot finds a book of erotica, but her story, as told by Hellenga, is not erotic. Oh yes, she does fall in love and has an affair, but it is not overly graphic. Mostly this story is played out through Margot’s inner reflections about her life and her relationships. Hellenga also gives us a peek into the thoughts of her lover, the likable, deceitful, Dottor Sandro Postiglione. My favorite character was the Mother Superior of the convent. I would have enjoyed more of her pithy, insightful comments. I also enjoyed the beautiful descriptions of the art and the details of the restorations. I would have liked a great deal more of that.
Margot may discover many things about her own sexuality in Florence, but she also spends much time reflecting on her relationships to other women. In the end, when she finally takes control of her own life, (and I wondered if she would ever get there) her loyalty to her sisters, both biological and metaphorical, is the overriding factor. It is so much a woman’s story. I’m looking forward to reading more of Hellenga’s writing to see what other amazing things he can do.
4 stars
“What is amazing is how intensely you care about this woman” – The New Yorker
That quote appears on the back cover of my battered paperback copy of The Sixteen Pleasures. It’s true. I did come to care a great deal about Margot Harrington and her 1966 sojourn of self-discovery in flood stricken Florence. However, the truly amazing thing is how accurately Robert Hellenga managed to capture the inner voice and personality of a young woman.
Margot is 29 and dissatisfied with her life. Her mother’s death interrupted the future she thought she would have and seems to have set her adrift. In the aftermath of the flood, she takes her skills as a book conservator to Florence to help with the clean-up. She ends up in a convent, helping the sisters rescue their library. In the convent library, they find a Renaissance masterpiece of erotic verse with pictures. Margot restores the book, and helps the convent realize the profits form its sale.
Margot finds a book of erotica, but her story, as told by Hellenga, is not erotic. Oh yes, she does fall in love and has an affair, but it is not overly graphic. Mostly this story is played out through Margot’s inner reflections about her life and her relationships. Hellenga also gives us a peek into the thoughts of her lover, the likable, deceitful, Dottor Sandro Postiglione. My favorite character was the Mother Superior of the convent. I would have enjoyed more of her pithy, insightful comments. I also enjoyed the beautiful descriptions of the art and the details of the restorations. I would have liked a great deal more of that.
Margot may discover many things about her own sexuality in Florence, but she also spends much time reflecting on her relationships to other women. In the end, when she finally takes control of her own life, (and I wondered if she would ever get there) her loyalty to her sisters, both biological and metaphorical, is the overriding factor. It is so much a woman’s story. I’m looking forward to reading more of Hellenga’s writing to see what other amazing things he can do.
May 5, 2014
Needing a change and some adventure in her life, Margot Harrington felt a calling to travel to Florence in 1966 to aid in the restoration of art and books after the famous flood. Many foreigners arrived in the city, but Margot was a little removed from the other “Mud Angels” because she was an experienced antique book restorer and she was very familiar with Florence, having lived there for several years as a child. Circumstance leads her to end up living at and working in the library of an impoverished abbey. The nuns entrusted to help her rescue the waterlogged books come across an old prayer book, but this was no ordinary prayer book. This book is bound together with another small book – the banned (thought lost) erotic poems of Aretino.
Margot first lovingly restores the book and then entrusted by the, surprisingly worldly, Abbess attempts to sell the volume to help the abbey. Her lover tries to undermine her sale to make a profit for himself. The Abbot, to whom the Abbess reports, forbids her to sell the banned book and life itself seems to be throwing out roadblocks every step of Margot’s way. Never one to be daunted, Margot persists with her quest leading to some interesting adventures.
From the title of the book and the “blurb” I read describing it I expected this book to be an “erotic” adventure. And, in a small way it was, but it was mostly about Margot finding herself. I enjoyed the story but as so often happens in works of historical fiction, I enjoyed the descriptions of Florence, the flood and the restorations even more, particularly the book restorations and the “peeling” of the water damaged frescoes.
Margot first lovingly restores the book and then entrusted by the, surprisingly worldly, Abbess attempts to sell the volume to help the abbey. Her lover tries to undermine her sale to make a profit for himself. The Abbot, to whom the Abbess reports, forbids her to sell the banned book and life itself seems to be throwing out roadblocks every step of Margot’s way. Never one to be daunted, Margot persists with her quest leading to some interesting adventures.
From the title of the book and the “blurb” I read describing it I expected this book to be an “erotic” adventure. And, in a small way it was, but it was mostly about Margot finding herself. I enjoyed the story but as so often happens in works of historical fiction, I enjoyed the descriptions of Florence, the flood and the restorations even more, particularly the book restorations and the “peeling” of the water damaged frescoes.
September 18, 2007
So I really, really loved Philosophy Made Simple, Hellenga's later novel that I read over a year ago. The Sixteen Pleasures sucked me right in, and I liked it way better than some other novels I've read about Americans in love with Italy. The Sixteen Pleasures follows an American girl in her mid-twenties in the mid-sixties who, feeling a quarter-life crisis, decides to move to Florence to help with book restoration following the horrendous flooding. She'd spent two years of high school in Italy, and has amazingly positive, powerful memories and associations of living in Florence with her now-dead mother (Her father is the protagonist in... Philosophy Made Simple! Huzzah!). She befriends some nuns while staying at a convent, and the plot really picks up when she discovers pornographic engravings bound in a Renaissance prayer book. She's extremely believable, even for being a female character written by a man. I enjoyed it.
People say that God works in mysterious ways when they really mean that life, or something in their own lives, doesn't make any sense, but I think that's wrong. I think it means that we can't make any sense out of life until we give up our deepest hopes, until we stop trying to arrange everything to suit us. But once we do, or are forced to . . . That's what's mysterious.
People say that God works in mysterious ways when they really mean that life, or something in their own lives, doesn't make any sense, but I think that's wrong. I think it means that we can't make any sense out of life until we give up our deepest hopes, until we stop trying to arrange everything to suit us. But once we do, or are forced to . . . That's what's mysterious.
June 13, 2007
This story is about a young female book conservator who travels to Italy in 1966, the year the Arno flooded its banks, destroying the collections of galleries, libraries and churches. While staying in a convent she discovers a lost book of pornography that dates back to the Renaissance. Hurray!
The blurb on the back cover describes this as an erotic book about an erotic book which I think is very misleading. The sexuality struck me as being very tame. However the main charcter is very well drawn. Her experiences seem to resonant particularly well with women who were in their twenties and early thirties around 1966.
If this book has a flaw, it is that Hellanga doesn't seem to know what sort of story he is trying to tell. There are parts where the writing, while beautiful, doesn't really contribute to the story and/or character arc. There is at least one instance where the third person POV, which follows the protagonist, Margot, through most of the book, makes an abrupt leap to a scene outside of her consciousness. All of this contributes to the feeling that one is reading a series of writing exercises that have later been cobbled together into a novel.
This book is a terrific example of writing that is enjoyable but doesn't inspire any desire to imitate.
The blurb on the back cover describes this as an erotic book about an erotic book which I think is very misleading. The sexuality struck me as being very tame. However the main charcter is very well drawn. Her experiences seem to resonant particularly well with women who were in their twenties and early thirties around 1966.
If this book has a flaw, it is that Hellanga doesn't seem to know what sort of story he is trying to tell. There are parts where the writing, while beautiful, doesn't really contribute to the story and/or character arc. There is at least one instance where the third person POV, which follows the protagonist, Margot, through most of the book, makes an abrupt leap to a scene outside of her consciousness. All of this contributes to the feeling that one is reading a series of writing exercises that have later been cobbled together into a novel.
This book is a terrific example of writing that is enjoyable but doesn't inspire any desire to imitate.
April 2, 2009
I'm a little skeptical when it comes to books written by old men from the perspective of young women; I always expect there to be some sort of disconnect as if the author is writing about a subject matter that they obviously know nothing about. The Sixteen Pleasures captures all the romance of art, travel and young love, yet the love isn't so young and the heroin Margot seems a little world-weary for her 29 years. Despite Margot’s lackluster view on love and sex she falls into a life totally consumed by both, coming into possession of a unique book of 16th century pornography and falling in love with a married man twenty years her senior. By the end of the book Margot is supposed to have discovered her sexual identity and purpose in life but to me she seems just as lost as she did at the start of the book, searching for love in all the expected places, settling for another old man.
January 23, 2008
Bookbinding + Italy = LOVE, right??? Anyone who knows me would recommend this book--and many did. I hated this book from the beginning and forced myself to read it. I had a professor in college that made quite the impression on me and she gave us one exercise in which she had us read excerpts of certain authors. It was then our job to assign a gender based upon this tidbit. It was fascinating to see if we could indeed do that! This book is an example of a man writing for a feminine protagonist with devastating results. He has no business writing as a woman. Not at all convincing and quite frankly, pathetic. I renamed this book, the Sixteen Agonies.
February 2, 2009
the back of the book, and indeed even the title, suggests that the sixteen pleasures will be quite a bit more scandalous than it actually ends up being. in some ways i found it disappointing, not because i needed it to be more salacious but because it had all the potential to be an amazing book but just somehow failed to make that leap into awesomeness. i think in part because it focused a lot of attention on relatively inconsequential details but just sort of skipped over important moments.
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