Saturday, May 12, 2012

Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny (2012)

I always love books about books, strong women, and historical periods, so this book satisfied all those and wasn't a bad read, but wasn't great. Dr. Gabriella Mondini has been taught the healing arts by her father in Venecia of the late 16th century. Her father took off ten years ago to explore diseases in other countries for his book that she had been helping him write. Since she hasn't heard from him for a while, she takes off to look for him with two of her servants. They travel through Germany, Netherlands, England, Ireland, France, Spain and Morocco. Interesting way of showing these countries from those times, but I had a hard time believing that a single woman could do so at that time, even when she did dress up as a man. I was wondering how she was able to communicate in all those countries, and lastly, I wondered how she could take that much currency with her that worked everywhere and that was never in danger of being stolen. But I guess you can take a positive look at the world, as I usually do, but with my own foreign travels coming up, I must be feeling extra paranoid. I felt I just got a glimpse into how women were treated at that time.

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