Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

"After Margherita's father steals parsley from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he is threatened with having both hands cut off, unless he and his wife relinquish their precious little girl. Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Tiziano, first painted by him in 1512 and still inspiring him at the time of his death. She is at the center of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition. Locked away in a tower, Margherita sings in the hope that someone will hear her. One day, a young man does"--Amazon.com.

Bitter Greens is 1/2 fairy tale and 1/2 historical fiction. Two of my favorite genres. with a 4.1 rating I was expecting a lot.

The novel starts with French novelist Charlotte-Rose being banished from court to live in a nunnery. We learn some back story on her before one of her fellow nuns begins to tell her the story of Margherita (Rapunzel). The story jumps back and forth between Charlotte and Margherita. Once we are finally drawn into their stories, the book jumps to a new one. It is the story of La Strega, the witch who kidnapped Rapunzel. Once her story is done, the reader is now past the halfway point in the book. The novel picks up pace until all the stories are finally concluded.

I wanted to love this book, but I can't. I did not feel attached to any of the characters. The historical elements felt authentic, but I struggled with all the French I didn't understand. Regardless of the language, it was the style that ruined it for me. The book constantly jumped around from time period to time period. We are presented with one character for multiple chapters and leave the others to be forgotten. I felt the author struggled so hard to reach a level of authenticity that she forgot to step back and focus on the story.

There were many references to famous historical figures which was lost on me. I know little of the 16th and 17th century. It unfortunately caused the book to drag.

If you're considering reading this book, ask yourself first “How much do I know about 16th and 17th century France?” if the answer is a good amount, then you may love this book.

I really wanted to love this, but the author's time line was the nail in the coffin for me. I found I didn't care for any of the characters, and wondered why the author had to provide so much back story where it wasn't needed. While I appreciate the author's hard word, I felt there were many ways to improve on the book.

It took me awhile to get into this one. I loved the Rapunzel story. the French Court portion of the story, however, I didn't get into until almost the end of the book.