The Venice Sketchbook

In 1928, 18-year-old Juliet is invited by her aunt Hortensia on an Italian tour as a birthday present.

On their second day in Venice they go to St. Mark’s Square and the Doge’s Palace. As they view the paintings at the Doge’s Palace, Hortensia tells Juliet, “If you wish to be an artist, you can do no better than making careful observations here” (10). Juliet feels as if the world is before her now that she no longer has to return to Miss Masters’s Academy for Young Ladies.

That night Juliet begins a new sketchbook for the trip.

The next day Aunt Hortensia is ill, so Juliet explores Venice alone, returning to St. Mark’s and sketching for hours.

On her way back to the pensione, a small hotel or boarding house, Juliet spots kittens that have been left to die in the canal and jumps in the water. She is able rescue them, but her skirts weigh her down and prevent her from pulling herself back out.

She calls out to an approaching boat, and a handsome young Italian man stops to help her. He takes her to her pensione when she refuses his offer to bring her to his home to get cleaned up. He introduces himself as Leonardo Da Rossi and says she can call him Leo. She doesn’t tell him that at home she normally goes by Lettie instead of Juliet.

He sees her sketchbook, and she tells him she is planning to study art. He offers to take her and her aunt to see modern art at the Biennale. She is doubtful her aunt will allow it, but he promises to meet her at her pensione the next morning.

Juliet, returning to the pensione with wet clothes, lies and tells her aunt that she leaned too far out while trying to draw and fell into the canal.

Aunt Hortensia refuses to allow Juliet to see Leo again, so Juliet leaves a note for him explaining the situation. Juliet and Aunt Hortensia visit the Murano and La Accademia di Belle Arti, the Academy of Fine Arts, where Aunt Hortensia shows Juliet art that she deems “appropriate.” After dinner, Aunt Hortensia falls asleep as Juliet listens to distant street music.

After dinner, Aunt Hortensia falls asleep and Leo appears outside Juliet’s window. He takes her to the park where the Biennale is held so that she can see the site, even if she cannot go while it is open. They picnic and talk, and Juliet realizes she wants to be independent, travel the world, and only marry once she knows who she is and what she wants. Leo tells her he does not want to run his father’s business—he wishes he had an older brother so that he could be free to travel, collect beautiful things, and perhaps open an art gallery.

Leo tells Juliet that she is different from other girls; he sees she wants to experience life. As they lie on the grass stargazing, he kisses her. When he takes her back to the pensione, he admits that he kissed her to give a young tourist her first taste of excitement, but when he started kissing her he didn’t want to stop. Juliet realizes she felt the same way.

He asks if he can take her dancing the next night, and she agrees before climbing back into her room and finding Aunt Hortensia still asleep.

The following morning, Juliet contemplates giving Leo her address in England and asking for a photograph, so she can show her friends how handsome he is. She sees herself as bold and daring now.

At breakfast, however, her plans are dashed. The proprietress of the pensione tells Aunt Hortensia that Juliet was seen returning with Leo the night before. Aunt Hortensia is livid. She reproaches Juliet for been naive, saying Leo must have thought she was “easy pickings” because he wouldn’t treat a respectable Italian girl that way. She announces that they are ending their stay in Venice immediately and going to Florence a day early.

Juliet privately vows, “I’d study hard, become a famous artist and have the means to travel. One day, I promised myself. One day I will come back” (38-39). She draws Leo that night from memory.

In 2001, Caroline Grant, Juliet’s grand-niece, lives in London with her husband, Josh, whom she married when she unexpectedly became pregnant at the end of art school. Caroline works as an editorial assistant for a fashion magazine, a position that doesn’t allow her to use her artistic skills. Josh, meanwhile, works as a designer for a fashion house, but he resents making plain white shirts.

Their son is six now, and Josh enters a fashion design competition in New York. Caroline supports him, though she resents having had to give up her own dreams.

After Josh earns second place in the competition, a pop star, Desiree, approaches him and asks him to design the wardrobe for her upcoming tour. He agrees without consulting with Caroline and goes on tour with Desiree. After the tour ends he tells her that he regrets their marriage and leaves her for Desiree. He promises to financially support their son, Teddy. Caroline is furious when Josh suggests taking Teddy for summers and holidays, leaving her to do the hard work of raising a child. However, she concedes that it wouldn’t be good to interrupt Teddy’s schooling to send him to America.

When she receives the divorce papers, Caroline goes to the home in the suburbs that her granny and great-aunt Lettie (Juliet) share. Lettie tells Caroline she has never liked Josh and reminds her that Josh stole a design of hers in art school. Caroline wonders if he stole any of her designs for the New York competition.

Lettie comforts Caroline during the divorce, telling her, “We humans have the capacity to survive almost anything. Not only to survive but to come through triumphant. Another door will open. You’ll see. A better one. A safer one. A brighter future” (45). Caroline’s granny suggests that Caroline come to live with them and take some time to rethink her life. Caroline promises to think about it.

Teddy spends the summer in Beverly Hills, California, with Josh and Desiree. Meanwhile Caroline considers Granny’s offer, deciding she’ll wait until Teddy comes back at the end of the summer before she makes up her mind.

As the end of summer nears, Josh calls to say Teddy has an ear infection and can’t travel for two weeks, so they will stay in New York. Caroline wonders if Josh plans to keep Teddy with him.

Before the two weeks are up, the Twin Towers fall on September 11.

On September 11, Caroline is unable to reach Josh by phone. When she finally gets through he won’t let her talk to Teddy, telling her he’s too upset. He continues not letting her talk to Teddy in the weeks that follow, saying Teddy will hear how upset she is and be upset himself.

When, weeks later, Caroline confronts Josh about finally bringing Teddy home, Josh tells her Teddy has been having nightmares about planes and a psychologist said he shouldn’t travel. Josh says they’ll enroll Teddy in a school in New York. Caroline protests, but Josh is adamant—Teddy is happy where he is. A lawyer tells Caroline not to do anything unless Josh tries to get full custody.

Granny calls with the news that Great-Aunt Lettie has had a stroke and does not have much time left. She has been asking for Caroline.

When Caroline arrives at their home, Lettie tries to tell her something, but can only get out something about Venice, Michelangelo, and a box before she passes. Caroline wonders what Lettie was like as a younger woman.

Granny suggests they have a cup of tea before they call the doctor.

Caroline and Granny discuss Lettie over their tea. Granny encourages Caroline to get the box that Lettie had been trying to tell her about.

As Caroline sorts through the box’s contents, she sees Lettie’s sketches and Granny tells her Lettie went to art school. After the death of her father, however, Lettie left art school and took a job teaching art to support her mother and young sister.

When Caroline realizes the sketches are of Venice, Granny tells her Lettie went to Venice three times. The last time, in 1939, she ended up being trapped there by the war. Lettie escaped to Switzerland to wait the war out and helped survivors, including concentration camp survivors, while she was there.

Caroline also finds several old keys, which puzzles Granny, who doesn’t think of her sister as a collector. As they contemplate the keys and sketches, both women come to the same conclusion—for some mysterious reason, Lettie wanted Caroline to go to Venice. Granny encourages Caroline to do so, since she cannot do much about Teddy’s situation at the moment. While she is there, she can scatter Lettie’s ashes in a place she clearly loved.

In 1938, Juliet, now an art teacher, arrives in Venice with Miss Frobisher, a fellow teacher, and several of their students. They are staying at a convent.

Juliet questions her initial excitement over returning, wondering if she had been remembering Venice with rose-colored glasses. She thinks of Leo and decides he would be married by now, as she had hoped she would be.

Over the next couple of days, Juliet shows the girls around the city, including St. Mark’s, the Doge’s Palace, and Murano.

Noting a poster for the Biennale, Juliet decides to take the girls there. At the Biennale, Juliet observes Mussolini’s men and Italian police standing around the grounds, observing the crowds and creating a tense atmosphere. Miss Frobisher dislikes most of the art but shows approval for the German art, which Juliet privately thinks is all propaganda. They see Austrian art in the German pavilion and Miss Frobisher remarks, “Germany has annexed Austria, hasn’t it? Nice to see them happily together now” (83). Juliet keeps her thoughts to herself. She is angered by the presence of rude German officers and says loudly to the girls, “’I think we’ve seen enough of this, haven’t we? It’s all propaganda. You can’t really call it art” (84).

As they leave the American pavilion, Juliet spots Leo. He is speaking with a large group of important-looking men. He looks over and recognizes her, excusing himself from his group to ask if he can see her for dinner that night. Juliet tells Miss Frobisher he is a family friend. As she rejoins her group, a student comments that her face looks awfully red.