My rating: ★★★★☆
Actually 3,7 rounded up to 4 of 5 stars
The French court of the Sun King, a large 115-carat blue diamond, a love story...
I love fiction inspired by true events, if you add to this a bit of romance and a context (that of the stonecutters) that is different from the usual, the recipe is perfect.
The premises of the plot of the book are therefore fascinating and in fact I liked the story in its entirety, unfortunately however the author's narrative style did not allow me to become passionate about the characters or to jump with emotion for what was being told.
The story is narrated by the heroine of the book, while she is in prison and has to give a statement.
__THE PLOT _ Juliette Pitau, sixteen-year-old daughter of King Louis XIV's former jeweler, finds herself in a cell in the Bastille.
She is accused of stealing the Tavernier Violet, a large, deep blue diamond, which her father had been tasked with cutting and making as bright as the sun. Unfortunately, making such a dark diamond shine was an almost impossible task, which only the man who had cut Mazarin's famous diamond collection could have performed with precision.
To go to the aid of her father, Juliette devised a plan that was not entirely legitimate, for this reason she is also accused of treason and of having conspired against France together with a family of Jews, who at that time had been exiled from many European countries including France.
Giving testimony that shows the king her good intentions and that clears her of the charges is the only way she can avoid the death sentence. Unfortunately, her well-intentioned lies and the wickedness of some greedy people have made her guilty even in the eyes of those who loved her, like René, the young man who has to write down her declaration of innocence.
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As I have already said, the story itself is fascinating and took me into a world I knew nothing about: that of precious gems and the different types of cuts to make them more brilliant and precious, in the world of diamonds and jewels of crown and the legends in which they are surrounded.
Some things are explained at the end of the book in the author's notes, others can be read in the hundreds of articles found on the web about the Tavernier Violet, which was cut and then transformed into French Blue, which then disappeared for many years afterwards during the French Revolution and which then reappeared, differently cut, as Hope Diamond.
What didn't allow me to fully enjoy the story was the narration told by Juliette herself.
The story is reported a bit like a "news story" and even if from time to time the dialogues that the protagonist remembers are reported, this is not enough to give emphasis to either the facts or the characters. For me it was all unexciting and lacking in suspense.
Not even the fact that the person who took the deposition was Juliette's lover, who initially believed her to be guilty and greedy, while slowly realizing the suffering that led her to make desperate and catastrophic choices, did not help to excite me.
There are several kisses in the book, some sweet, some more passionate and a sex scene without explicit descriptions... however in my opinion, not only were they not very believable inside a cell where you can be seen from moment to moment 'more from the guards, but the description didn't involve me or make me feel butterflies in my stomach, which often happens to me with other clean romances where the author manages to excite me even just with glances and small stolen kisses.
I liked the characters for better or for worse, but each of them should have been explored more.
I liked the choice of the two protagonists, in love, but fragile in the uncertainty of being loved only for appearances and not for who they really are.
I would have preferred a father who goes out of his way for his daughter and not a cowardly drunk who only knows how to cry about himself while his daughter tries to move mountains to help him, but an involuntary villain could fit in.
I liked the other positive characters and the 2 tyrants of the jewelers' guild (the head of the guild and his wife), I also liked the capricious Sun King in his selfishness and egocentricity...
When I say that I liked the characters, it means that they made sense to me and were in the right place in this story... but for each of them, as a reader I got an idea of their character, but the monotonous way to tell the story chosen by author did not allow me to savor them fully.
I think if the writer had told the facts in real time (and not through a story told afterwards by the protagonist while she is in prison), she would have been able to develop the dialogues and characters more.
If the dialogues had been expanded and the characters more in-depth and with more space, they would have indelibly captured my soul as a reader and the author would have equally had the opportunity to show us the romantic love with ups and downs between René and Juliette.
In fact, the point that I liked most was the ending, when the events finally take place outside that dark and damp cell and we finally perceive the pathos of what could or could not be.
Of course it is a matter of taste, because I have read many nice reviews on this book, but my personal opinion is this and this does not make me want to read the next book in the series, nor I will never reread this.
It is a book suitable for young adults and perhaps it can have a stronger emotional impact on them than it had on me and as I said the story is still a good story.
Sorry for my bad English, it's not my native language and thanks for reading my opinion :-)
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