Gabriella Mondini is an odditiy in 16th-century Venice - she is a doctor. But, now her father has been gone for ten years and the Guild of Physicians will no longer allow her to practice without him serving as her mentor. So Gabriella sets out on a journey to find him, following the only clues she has - a series of letters from all across Europe.

This book was not really what I expected. I suppose I expected more of a mystery - where is Gabriella's father? Why has he been gone so long? Will she find him? I think I imagined it would read like a literary mystery, perhaps like The Dante Club or similar. But it didn't. Now, this doesn't mean it wasn't a good book - I enjoyed Gabriella as a narrator and the unique perspective her situation provided. But I found myself not as interested in learning about what happened to her father. In fact, a number of times, I wanted to shake her and say, "why are you still following him?!" I loved the relationship between Gabriella and her "servants" (I put it in quotes because they are clearly much more than servants). I longed for more historical details - there is quite a bit but the notion of a female doctor travelling through Europe is quite fascinating. I also would have liked more instances of Gabriella actually practicing her medicines. Overall, the characters in this novel shined for me, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. Regardless, I think this will find an audience with readers of literary fiction.