The Glassblower of Murano - Book Review

The Glassblower of Murano
by Marina Fiorato
Beautiful Books (UK) 2008
St Martins Press (USA) 2009
Author's website
Author's blog





I fell in love with mosaics and glassblowing many years ago when I first began reading the history of Constantinople. These were fascinating careers involving the arts outside of painting. Mosaics are my favourite but glassblowing comes a close second and there have been no stories about female glassblowers - until now.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is set in Venice, one of my all time favourite cities (others being Constantinople and Alexandria). Nora Manin has the blood of the glassblowers running in her veins. Her mother is English and her father was Bruno Manin, a Venetian, who died of a heart attack when Nora was just a child.

Nora was born in Venice but raised in England by her mother. Elinor was an art historian. Thus Nora grows up being drawn to glass blowing although she has no idea why. After her marriage breaks down, Nora decides to find her roots and she moves to Venice where she gets a job as a glassblower apprentice on the island of Murano.

Ms Fiorato (the author) does follow the correct immigration process, (which has been a huge nit pick for me in other reviews) and this adds to the story. In Nora's struggles to get through the legal paperwork, she finds the man of her dreams - Alessandro Bardalino.

In Venice we follow Nora as she learns more about glassblowing and as she searches for the story of her ancestor, Corradino Manin. He was also a glassblower on Murano in the 1500s and his speciality was making mirrors. The glassblowers in Venice were virtually kept as prisoners on Murano Island - they could not leave without permission of the ruling Council of Ten. The reason for this was to keep the glass blowers trade a secret in Europe, and to create a monopoly on the sale of glass mirrors and other glass items.

Corradino had an illegitimate daughter and in order to keep his daughter safe, Corradino did the unthinkable - he faked his death and traveled to France, where he passed his knowledge of glass making and blowing to the French, by creating the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

The story switches between past and present, between Corradino and Nora, as Nora tries to find out what happened to Corradino and if he really was a traitor to Venice. A thoroughly enjoyable story.



Marina Fiorato is half-Venetian. She was born in Manchester and raised in the Yorkshire Dales. She is a history graduate of Oxford University and the University of Venice, where she specialized in the study of Shakespeare’s plays as an historical source. After University she studied art and since worked as an illustrator, actress and film reviewer. She also designed tour visuals for rock bands including U2 and the Rolling Stones. She was married on the Grand Canal in Venice and lives in North London with her husband, son and daughter.

The Rosetti Letter by Christi Phillips - Book Review

The Rosetti Letter
By Christi Phillips
Pocket Books (PB) February 2008

Clair Donovan is writing her dissertation on a little known event in Venetian history - known as the Spanish Conspiracy. This event really did occur in Venice in 1617, but it is not known what actually did happen. Claire however cannot afford to go to Venice to do some research or to attend a history confernce being held there.


So Claire is prevailed upon to chaperone a teenager to Venice for one week while she attends the conference. She also plans to spend some time at the Biblioteca Marciani. Once they arrive in Venice, Claire spends her time running around looking for books and documents to complete her dissertation, and trying to keep the teenager out of trouble. Claire also discovers that she has competition. Another professor from England who is also writing a book on the Spanish Conspiracy. If this author gets their book published first, then Claires dissertation will be for nothing. Claire and the English professor meet at the conference in Venice, and the sparks fly.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book for the detailed infomation I learnt about Venice in the 1600s. I also enjoyed it for the tour through Venice of the present. I loved that both the heroines (past and present) were educated and interested in learning more. And at long last I know how a courtesan behaves and why.

The only extra I felt was really not necessary was the addition of the teenager. Her romances and teenage angst did not add to the story.

Courtesans and Art

"I thought, 'Who else could she be but a courtesan?' Now work being done on Titian's letters shows we're pretty certain she was."

The Venus Of Urbino inspired Fiammetta Bianchini, the talented, high-class prostitute in Dunant's latest historical novel, In The Company Of The Courtesan.


In the Company of the Courtesan - Sydney Morning Herald Review.


I love Art History. I love reading Books about Art, Art History and Art Mysteries.
My favourite painters are the Flemish & Dutch painters such as Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer. But I also like some of the Italian painters like Titian, Caravaggio and Canaletto, and lastly my favourite Impressionist is Renoir. And of course Leonardo is in there as well, but he's more of a scientist, engineer & inventor rather than a painter, but his paintings are brilliant as well.

I've noticed a number of other books about courtesans on the shelves, which means that of course they are a hot topic. It probably comes out of the success of the Novel Memoirs of a Geisha, since Geisha are sort of like courtesans as well, even if they were not actually at court.

I read once that Courtesans were more like escorts rather than actual prostitutes. They were educated, could read, write, play music and dance, usually knew enough about the topics of the day to hold a decent conversation, and in general just helped the men to relax without actually being intimate. That is my understanding of what a Courtesan was. It turns out I was right.

The closest modern equivalent is the geisha, she [Sarah Dunant] says. "Courtesans play musical instruments, they read poetry, discuss politics and love sonnets, and they also deliver in the bedroom - they have a great portfolio."

Dunant, an award-winning thriller writer and creator of private detective Hannah Wolfe, switched to historical novels in 2004 with The Birth Of Venus, set in Renaissance Florence.

In The Company Of The Courtesan, her second novel in this period, follows Fiammetta and her companion, the dwarf Bucino, as they flee the 1527 sacking of Rome to begin again in the decadent metropolis of Venice.





I also have had sitting on my hard-drive (for quite some time now) a picture of Titian's daughter Lavinia. I've been waiting for the right time to use it, and I think the time is now. This was painted in 1561.