The Venice Sketchbook

The Venice Sketchbook (2021) by Rhys Bowen is part wartime romance and part mystery novel. It alternates between two plotlines: that of Juliet Browning, an English woman, and her time in Venice; and that of Caroline Grant, the great-niece of Juliet. Upon the discovery of Juliet’s decades-old sketchbooks and several old keys, Caroline embarks on a journey to uncover her great-aunt’s secrets and recover her own happiness along the way.

This guide references the 2021 Lake Union Publishing Kindle edition of The Venice Sketchbook.

Plot Summary

The Venice Sketchbook opens with Juliet Browning agreeing to act as a British spy and report Venice harbor activity to the British military during World War II. The action then jumps backward in time to 18-year-old Juliet’s first time visiting Venice, falling in love with the city, and becoming infatuated with a local, Leonardo Da Rossi. Their ill-fated romance and its consequences form the primary personal conflict of the novel, a conflict deepened by the large-scale happenings of World War II.

Shortly after her initial visit to Italy, Juliet must give up her dream of becoming a famous artist and an independent, well-traveled woman. Her father loses their fortune in the 1929 American stock market crash and passes away not long after, leaving Juliet to take responsibility for the family, quitting art school and taking a job as art mistress at a local girls’ school.

Juliet visits Venice again, first in 1938 on an education trip for her students, and then in 1939, this time to stay for a year and study at La Accademia di Belle Arti (the Academy of Fine Arts) on a pension from a school benefactor. She encounters Leo on both trips; on the first, their connection becomes clear, but Leo reveals that he must marry another woman out of familial duty. On her second, longer stay, Leo finds it difficult to stay away, pursuing Juliet despite her wishes not to get involved with a married man.

Juliet’s time in Venice reveals to her the possibility of building her own community after her long years of isolation in England. The foreign students at the accademia form a tightknit group, and Juliet also befriends the Contessa Fiorito, a great patron of the arts. Over time Juliet develops facility with the language and considers what it might be like to stay and create her own life in Italy.

When Juliet nearly drowns during a storm and Leo helps her home, their lingering fear and the feelings they have been fighting rise to the surface and they make love. Juliet tells Leo in the aftermath that it can never happen again, and he agrees, but she discovers she is pregnant from their single encounter. Leo promises to do right by her as much as he is able; fearing his father-in-law’s ties “with the Mafia,” he believes he cannot divorce Bianca to marry Juliet. He does, however, look after her, providing her with a doctor, an apartment, and financial support.

Meanwhile, World War II has begun. Juliet is in danger as a foreign enemy on Italian soil, but she insists on remaining in Venice to avoid bringing shame to her mother. During her pregnancy and after, her community rallies to protect her. Leo provides false identification and ration cards, her housekeeper and the contessa keep her stocked with food, and her neighbors protect her against overzealous carabinieri. When she is nearly caught and her identity card is taken away, she flees to the contessa’s home with her young son.

Juliet’s original plan was to give up her child immediately after giving birth, but when she holds him, she realizes she does not want to give him up. She convinces Leo to let her keep their son, Angelo, until he is ready to be weaned. Juliet cares for Angelo for nearly two years, but when Leo is away long enough that his family believes him dead, his wife, Bianca, sends Da Rossi men to take Angelo by force so that the heir is safely ensconced in their home. Juliet is not allowed to say goodbye.

Juliet grieves but continues her life in Venice, spending time with the contessa and Hanni, a young Austrian Jewish girl the contessa rescued from the Nazi regime. Juliet also continues reporting suspicious harbor activity to the British military. When Nazis invade Venice, the danger increases. The contessa, a Polish Jew, is taken away; Juliet rescues Hanni and shelters her in her own home.

Leo returns in secret, revealing to Juliet that he has been spying for the Allies but that he has been betrayed. He will escape, but first he has arranged for Juliet’s escape to Switzerland. Juliet takes Hanni with her, but they are captured by Nazi soldiers. Hanni is sent to a concentration camp and Juliet is sent to a non-Jewish prisoner camp.

Leo has also been arrested and is at the same camp as Juliet. He uses his father-in-law’s political connections to get a letter allowing him to leave; since it lists no name, he convinces Juliet to use it instead. He has asked his father-in-law for another one, claiming the first was destroyed by a guard. He promises to meet Juliet in Switzerland.

Juliet makes it to safety in Switzerland, but Leo never joins her. When the war ends, she writes to his father and discovers that Leo was shot trying to escape from the camp in 1943. Juliet has been helping refugees in Switzerland, but she is unable to find the contessa or Hanni. Grief-stricken, Juliet returns to England, throwing away her journal of the last years of the war and shutting her heart away. She lives in England with her sister for the rest of her life.

Juliet’s story is interspersed with that of Caroline Grant, her grand-niece, in 2001. Caroline’s husband Josh has gone to participate in a fashion design competition in New York. Caroline, who gave up her dream of being a designer to care for their son, resents Josh for leaving.

Once the competition ends, Josh delays his return, accepting a job as designer for the celebrity Desiree. Finally, he leaves Caroline for Desiree, saying he only married Caroline because he felt he should when she became pregnant. Teddy visits Josh in the United States for the summer, but his return to England is delayed, first by an ear infection and then by the tragedies on September 11, 2001. Josh claims that their psychologist thinks Teddy is too traumatized to get on a plane.

Caroline worries that Josh is trying to keep her son from her. During this time, her beloved great-aunt Lettie—Juliet—passes away, leaving Caroline a box filled with sketchbooks, a map of Venice, and three very old keys. The box creates a mystery that Caroline is determined to solve. With her grandmother’s blessing and urging, Caroline goes to Venice herself; her primary goal is to scatter Lettie’s ashes in a place she clearly loved, but she also hopes to uncover the purpose of the keys.

When Caroline discovers that one of the keys belongs to a safe deposit box in a Venice bank, she finds the deed to a 99-year-lease from 1939. Finding the apartment leads Caroline to uncover mysterious sketches of a child and also introduces her to the owner of the building, Luca Da Rossi, grandson of Leo. Eventually, the discovery of hidden journals leads Caroline to the truth: Juliet was the mother of Angelo Da Rossi, Luca’s father.

During her search for answers, Luca also becomes invested in the story, and he shows increasing interest in Caroline herself. They develop a romantic relationship.

Caroline discovers the hidden sketches Juliet had inherited from the contessa, and she realizes she may now be quite rich, giving her the resources she needs to possibly fight for her son. Her newfound financial freedom and the possibility of a future with Luca gives Caroline hope, and she realizes that she may be fulfilling her aunt’s wish “to have Caroline complete the life that had been denied to her” (395). Juliet lost the life she hoped for and nearly all of her loved ones, but Caroline brings renewed hope to the family line, creating a new life for herself.