Luciano, a boy living on the streets of Venice in the late 15th century is taken in by the Master Chef to the doge. Luciano is trained in the culinary arts and enlisted as the Chef's heir to continue the tradition of the Guardians, a secret group who protect certain books hiding ancient theories and manuscripts. High ranking officials, including the doge, are looking for these books, thought to contain anything from the gnostic gospels to an elixir for immortality.

This book is suspenseful and fairly easy to read. The author has a talent for description and is able to paint beautiful, realistic word pictures that place readers in the moment. The first part of the book contains quite a bit of background information that sometimes causes the story to feel disjointed, but afterward settles down to an interesting tale. ( )

The Review

This novel is outside of the type of book that I normally choose to read, but I had heard good things about it and thought it would be a fun adventure for me. However, what I discovered after I read about 1/3 of this book, is that it was just too far outside of my “preferred fiction” and I was really struggling to finish the book for the review. That is not to say that this isn’t a well written book with an interesting story. In fact, it was well written. I just couldn’t connect with this story if my life depended on it. But, I did finish the book and it does have a happy ending… and, I just love those happy endings where the story comes full circle. This book delivers that.

Despite it not being my favorite type of story, I must share in all fairness that I really liked the FANTASTIC food and cooking descriptions delivered within the novel. The recipes and discussions surrounding the food were my favorite parts of the novel. While reading this book, I craved cheesecake, almonds, light salads, cheese, wine, and fish. I kid you not, this book made me hungry!

As far as the characters and story line… if you like the Renaissance/Pre-Renaissance era(s) and/or Venice, then this book is one that you will love. The descriptions of the characters and locations were vivid and rich. In addition, there are some interesting parts to the story involving secret potions and love that do raise intrigue and interest.

The author has put considerable effort and time into this novel. She was kind enough even to sign the book for me. She has built a beautiful website that readers of this book are sure to enjoy.

There are parts of this novel that will linger in my memory and I don’t think I’ll ever look at an onion the same way again!

The Rating

Amazon.com has given this an overall rating of 4 stars after 63 reviews. That’s pretty good. Unfortunately, on Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale,” I would rate this book a 6 out of 10. It’s very well written, I just wasn’t totally engrossed in the subject matter nor the story line. ( )

The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark was not at all what I expected. Maybe it was the title - evocative of magic - or maybe it was the setting - 15th c. Venice, rich with intrigue and spice - but I definitely thought this was going to be a DaVinci Code-esque knock-off thriller. Fortunately, it was something I generally enjoy much more - an ode to food, cooked well, and eaten with gusto.

Truth be told, the plot of this book left a bit to be desired. It lagged a bit and the ending slumped off rather than truly wrapping the story up. The story is secondary to Newmark's descriptions of the lavish dinner parties and political intrigue at the Doge's palace. But for those who will read a story just to enjoy the atmosphere, this is a really charming book.

http://archthinking.blogspot.com/2009... ( )

Luciano, a street urchin and orphan, is rescued from an uncertain future by Chef Ferrero and made a apprentice in the palace kitchen of Venice. Once ensconced there, his life becomes one of intrigue. It is the mid-fifteenth century and all of Venice, is talking of a magical book which holds the key to love, immortality and power.

Luciano is witness to murder, kidnapping, and torture as the doge and other powerful Italians seek the book. But it is the parallel story which I enjoyed even more than the mystery of the sorcerers’ book – that of the growing relationship between Luciano and Chef Ferrero.

Luciano, parentless and without direction, is the perfect heir for the Chef who has three daughters but no son. The chef is at heart a teacher, and he uses the lessons of food to show Luciano that not only is God in each of us, giving us the potential for greatness, but that there is untested strength inside us as well. He shows Luciano the truths of life, and teaches him integrity and honesty. As Luciano struggles with maintaining his connections with the street urchins he has befriended and swoons with love for a young girl living in a nunnery, Chef Ferrero guides him toward a future filled with hope.

Elle Newmark has crafted a story full of the lushness of fifteenth century Venice. Her wonderful descriptions of food give the novel color and texture. She captures the evil of greed and wealth which prowled the halls of the palaces and homes of the powerful during that time.

The Book of Unholy Mischief is a whirlwind adventure story with moral underpinnings. The mysterious book, thought to be the key to so much, represents how far astray a person can go when their eyes are clouded by dreams of power – whether it be power over life and death, power over love, or power over another person. Although set in an historical time frame, the novel is really not an historical novel. Newmark takes some liberties with certain historical facts, but she notes in the afterword: “My primary objective was to tell a good tale.” And in this, she has succeeded.

I thoroughly enjoyed my travels with Luciano through the streets and kitchens of Venice. The Book of Unholy Mischief will appeal to readers who enjoy books about food, but more importantly those who wish to immerse themselves in a story that catapults them to another time and place.

Recommended. ( )

In late 15th century Venice, Luciano, a street urchin is collared by the doge's chef when he tries to steal a pomegranate. With this lucky instance, he is plucked from his hard existence in the streets and apprenticed to the chef. Using the cunning he used to survive on the streets, he soon discovers that there are more secrets and lies in Venice than he ever imagined and that his Master is so much more than he ever dreamed. Meanwhile, rumors circulate in Venice about a book containing no one knows what. Some people believe that it contains the secrets of alchemy. The doge thinks it has the information to cure his syphilis. Luciano is certain that is has a love potion that will make the little novice to whom he has given his heart love him back. People in power are willing to kill to possess the book, offering staggering awards for it. And so amidst the treachery and political manuvering that is Venice, the race to find and possess the book is on.

Caught up in the frenzy surrounding the book, Luciano eavesdrops in the palace, reports to his friends on the street, talks to the novice, and of course, starts to learn to cook. Watching the chef, he learns the importance of food, wondering if the meals that issue from their kitchen are changing the course of history and the fate of Venice. One of Luciano's first private lessons with the chef teaches him about the beauty of an onion, intricate layer upon intricate layer upon intricate layer. This is a beautiful metaphor for both the Venice Newmark has created as well as the story as a whole. As Luciano's apprenticeship continues, he not only learns to cook but to conspire and the grave importance of secrets kept and secrets spilled. Told in relatively short chapters, the reader will want to keep racing to the end of each, eager for the small revelations that will allow another piece of the puzzle about this fabulous, much-coveted book to fall into place.

Told from Luciano's point of view, the characters are fully fleshed out and human. And while the reader can see the pitfalls in certain characters long before Luciano recognizes that not everyone is worthy of his good heart's affection, this serves to illustrate Luciano's character better than had we been told of the traits that make him the perfect apprentice of the chef's. Newmark builds the suspense well and the final denouement is balanced and inevitable. In all honesty, before I got the book, I wasn't too certain this was going to be the book for me but as I continued to read the description, I couldn't escape the tug of intrigue and I am so very glad I didn't! I thoroughly enjoyed this lively historical fiction. I studiously ignored some of the factual inconsistencies (and Newmark addresses some of this in the author's afterword) because after all, this is fiction and allowances for the fantastical do not go amiss. I'd have loved for the chef to cook for me after all those mouth-watering food descriptions. Like the movie Seducing Beauty, this was an appealing, satisfying, and vividly tempting glimpse into the mysteries, politics, and depravities of long ago Venice. ( )