A Venetian Reckoning (Commissario Brunetti, #4)

by Donna Leon

“We once had an empire. Now all we have,” she said, repeating the same gesture, again encompassing the Basilica, the campanile and, below it, Sansovinos Loggetta, “all we have is this Disneyland. I think that’s sufficient cause for pessimism.”

Lampedusa had it right—things had to seem to change so that things could remain the same.

“Silver fork novel,” she repeated. “Books with simple plots written to explain to people who made a lot of money how to behave in polite company.”