The Gondola Maker by Laura Morelli tells the story of Luca Vianello, heir to a gondola-making business. However, he is a participant to a tragedy that strikes the business and alters the course of his life.

Luca begins to pick up the pieces of his life and becomes a boatman to an established and famed artist named Trevisan. As he reestablishes his life, the painting of a high society woman that is a client of the artist enchants Luca. He makes a connection with the woman and hopes it will lead to love. Luca learns his fate will turn in a different direction and what he thought would lead to a second chance turns into something completely different.

Morelli tells an excellent story from the first person perspective of Luca and brought me into the 16th Century Venice world of Gondola Boats, Art, and Culture. The Gondola Maker is not a novel of action and thrills. But, it is a novel of a character and the course of one’s life. I highly recommend this novel for fans of historical fiction and it will be one of my best reads of 2019.