"I received a complimentary copy of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood
Juliet Greenwood’s The Secret Daughter of Venice is a captivating historical novel that weaves a rich tapestry of love, identity, and the complexities of family against the backdrop of one of the world’s most enchanting cities. Set in 16th-century Venice, the story follows the journey of a young woman grappling with her secret heritage and the societal expectations of her time. The author skillfully balances historical detail with emotional depth, making the setting not just a backdrop but an integral part of the narrative.
At the heart of the novel is the protagonist, whose quest for self-discovery leads her through the shadowy corridors of her family’s past. As she uncovers hidden truths about her lineage, the story explores themes of belonging and the sacrifices made for love and acceptance.
The pacing of the novel is engaging, with a mix of suspense and romance that keeps readers invested. Greenwood expertly builds tension as secrets unravel, leading to a satisfying and unexpected conclusion.
Overall, The Secret Daughter of Venice is a beautifully written tale that will resonate with fans of historical fiction. It captures the essence of a city steeped in history while exploring timeless themes of identity and the bonds of family. Greenwood’s storytelling is both enchanting and poignant, making this a must-read for those who love a rich, immersive narrative.

Loved the previous book I read by Juliet Greenwood so I couldn't wait to read this one - and it definitely didn't disappoint. I felt all kind of emotions throughout this story - this is definitely a book that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. A beautiful read!

A very good and thought provoking read. The style and characters are engaging and moving. An absolute recommended read.

England, 1941. When Kate Arden discovers a secret stash of drawings hidden in the pages of an old volume of poetry given to her as a baby, her breath catches. All her life, she has felt like an outsider in her aristocratic adoptive family, who refuse to answer any questions about her past. But the drawings spark a forgotten memory: a long journey by boat… warm arms that held her tight, and then let go.

This book would not be among my favourites in the dual time genre. However I was intrigued by Kates story and her efforts to discover more about her mother's life. Overall a well told story with interesting characters. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

A beautiful and heartbreaking story set to the backdrop of WWII yet with a focus on the women & children left at home and the sacrifices made far from the frontlines.

Beautifully written with wonderful well developed characters.
A truly moving & heartwarming story.

A heartbreaking novel of a daughter searching for her birth mother during WW2 that I couldn't put down. It worked perfectly with story being told by both the mother and daughter so that you got both perspectives and a definite must for people who enjoy this genre of book

A heartbreakingly beautiful book. So much love and history inside this one. Beautifully done! I will be back to read this one again.

Thanks to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and the author for the chance to read this book.

I really enjoyed this historical novel set around WW2. The story is about a young woman wanting to find her birth mother. There is heartache and happiness and a touch of drama. The female characters are strong, and I love the way their inner strength is shown when dealing with the issues arising. It's a dual perspective story from the view of Kate and her birth mother, Sofia. Both women face their own difficulties and go through so much to find each other. It was a really heartwarming conclusion.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

The Secret Daughter of Venice is the stunning new historical novel from the very talented Juliet Greenwood.

England, 1941 and Kate Arden has always felt like an outsider in her aristocratic family. They refuse to answer any questions about her past and when she tries to get even the slightest inkling about who she really is, finds herself disappointed by her family’s refusal to even discuss her parentage. Kate thinks that she is doomed to spend the rest of her life wondering about her true identity – until she makes a startling discovery that could get help her solve this mystery…

Hidden deep in a volume of poetry that had been given to her as a baby is a secret stash of drawings that spark a memory that Kate has kept buried for a long time. A memory of a long journey by boat where she was held tightly by a pair of loving arms. As Kate begins to dig deep into her past, she begins to wonder, why did her mother abandon her? Why did she leave her with her adopted family? Will she ever find her? Or will the dark clouds of war impede her from at long last discovering the truth about her past?

Juliet Greenwood’s The Secret Daughter of Venice is a captivating historical novel perfect for Judith Lennox and Dinah Jefferies fans. A story that grips you from the start, gets under your skin and keeps you riveted to the page until the very end, The Secret Daughter of Venice is a terrific tale full of intrigue, mystery, drama and emotion by Juliet Greenwood you will certainly not forget in a hurry!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers!
A daughter looking for the mother she never knew, and a mother searching for the daughter she lost, all against the backdrop of World War II. Stunning locales, and a real commentary on women getting to choose their own course in life.

Kate Arden has always felt like a misfit in the Arden family. It seems like her father hates her, but her mother tries to make things better. Before she dies, she gives Kate a book that will give her some answers about her past. When she finds some sketches in the book, they bring back memories. She knows she was brought to England on a ship, but knows nothing about her birth mother. It's 1941 and the war is raging in Europe, so Kate takes the opportunity to leave home and work in an orphans home. She eventually wants to find her mother, or at least find out who she was and why she gave her up for adoption. She finds her way to Venice and begins to learn some secrets. What she doesn't know is that Sophia, her birth mother is also looking for her.

I really liked Kate. She has a passion for art, sketching, drawing and painting. She has sold a few pictures of the seaside, but beyond that, she doesn't think she will be able to make a living with her art. When she makes her way to Venice, she meets a woman who knew her as a baby, but will not tell her anything. We know why as we read the book, but Kate doesn't. She does help her by sending her to an artists colony where she can stay and work on her art if she chooses. She remembers a woman guiding her hands as a young child, and she wants to remember. She is stubborn and won't give up. Sofia is a character that I sympathized with. Her mother was evil and had stolen her child, but she had decided that she will find her child no matter what. This was a beautifully written story, that moved slowly and allowed the reader to experience life through Kate's and Sofia's eyes. The story is written in three parts with the story switching between England and Italy. When there are two storylines that eventually come together, I often enjoy one more than the other. I think Sofia's story stole my heart, as her family and situation grabbed my heart. The setting was wonderfully described, delighting this armchair traveler. My only concern is that Kate's story was slow and plodding at times, but as the story progressed it did speed up as the two stories come together. If you enjoy historical fiction, I recommend this one. There are mentions of Pompeii, digs, and artifacts found that have piqued my interest in this time. Overall, an enjoyable read in a lovely setting with interesting characters.

The story begins in 1939, during World War II. It is scary times and the future is uncertain.

Kate Arden is finally able to gain independence away from the Stratford-upon-Avon estate where she grew up in and the protective eye of her Papa, by travelling to help care for children displaced. With her new independence Kate is also able to explore why she didn't feel part of the Arden family and the secrets of her past that cause her flashbacks.

Some parts of the book seemed a little boring and strung out although I think this was needed as the author, Julia Greenwood, sets the scenes for many different characters and how they may be intertwined.

The story takes us on an exploration, mostly, of Stratford-upon-Avon (home to the late William Shakespeare) and Venice.

"...She turned this way and that, over tiny bridges spanning the canals, with glimpses of tall palazzos in the distance, between rows of balconies tumbling with flowers."

Overall, I enjoyed this book, the twists and the stories conclusion. It was my first time reading a book by Julia Greenwood and I like her style. I will endeavour to read more.



Thankyou to #netgalley and #stormpublishing for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

It is World War 2, 1941 and Kate Arden is living in England with her family but she does know that she is not truly an Arden although she does not know the full story of her arriving at Arden House when she was a very young girl, but she has found some paintings of Venice in a book of sonnets left to her by her adoptive mother and this brings back some memories of when she was young, of a boat journey and this has her wanting more, she wants to know about her past, will she ever find out.

Venice 1941 and Sofia Armstrong has returned to Venice arriving at the home she grew up in with her terrible mother The Contessa, she is not in residence but Magdalena her mother’s maid is still there troubling times are coming their way with the Germans just about to arrive but Sofia wants to finally find out where her daughter is, will she find her after all of these years?

I did enjoy this story, the characters, the mystery, and the settings were all so good, it was a bit slow to begin with and it took me some time to get into the story, but once I did the characters came to life.

This is one that I would recommend to any reader who loves a good historical story unravelling the mystery of what happened to Kate was well told.

My thanks to Storm Publishing and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

I adored this family driven historical drama! It's really cleverly told from the perspective of 2 characters, from the same timeline!, so you're really absorbed in the discoveries they make and how that will connect them as the time moves on.

Set too against the backdrop of the War, we meet some fascinating female characters and their storylines were so evocative and absorbing that I was invested straight away in both threads! The flipflopping of the stories works really well against each other, so you're never losing interest in either as there's just so much going on and lots to be revealed!

The character of Kate is really cleverly written. She's not doing the normal thing of settling down and isn't happy to go along with a role that isn't her, but she's always felt a little different from her family and never felt settled. She's searching for who she is, and she knows that the artistic world is her true love. She's also determined to help more with the war effort so that takes her off on other adventures. The war setting also allows you to see the reality of war and the destruction caused in various forms and the characters really help you connect.

She starts uncovering little clues to her past and that takes her on a a journey of discovery in Italy and starts to give her a real sense of connecting with her heritage. A beautifully written story and one I highly recommend to all!!

I really enjoyed this story. After the end of Workd War 2 women wre starting to be more independent and more assertive.in finding their place in the World. There were some great characters and a fast moving storyline. Open endecd conclusion for a follow on? I hope so.

In this World War II historical fiction novel, readers follow Kate Arden, an artist chafing under the rules of her adoptive father and stepmother in the English countryside in 1941. Kate knows she was born elsewhere, yet her father is not forthcoming with that information so she must rely on her faint childhood memories to rebuild her story and the mother she does not remember. As war continues across Europe, Kate seizes her life and begins volunteering as an art teacher for children evacuated to the countryside. Her journey, however, continues to bring her in indirect contact with Italy, specifically Venice and a mysterious villa. Discovering the secret connection to Italy and her birth family will have to wait until after the war, however, and that is when readers will learn Kate’s true identity. With a strong, capable, and artistic protagonist, readers will love following Kate and the mysterious second perspective throughout this novel. Greenwood’s characters are the heart of the story, and Kate, along with the other minor characters, are complex and well-developed. The locations, too, play a major role in this novel and are central to Kate’s journey of self-discovery and are vibrantly alive as secondary characters in this excellent novel.

This was a lovely story of Kate, who knew she wasn’t who she was told she was, and Sofia, her long lost mother. I loved the different take in a WW2 storyline. This story focused more on the women and children and the war efforts in England by those not fighting on the front. Kate always felt like she didn’t quite fit in and had memories of another place. Sofia, her mother, had lost the child she loved due to both heartbreak and an unscrupulous mother. This story will touch your heart.

Kate Arden, adopted into the Arden family, had been aware from a very young age that she’d been adopted. As time went by, snatches of memory stirred up a curiosity within her about her birth parents, particularly her mother, from whom, her memory suggests, she’s inherited her artistic skill. When the local schoolmistress, Miss Parsons, gives her a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets that her late adoptive mother had wanted her to have, with the hint that she’d find in it a clue to her past, she’s determined to find out more about her origins, and possibly even meet her mother.

Two pictures hidden in the spine of the book passed on to her by Miss Parsons intrigue her as they rouse further memories, a picture of a mountain and a picture of Venice, and helped by Miss Parsons, Kate leaves the Arden estate and begins a search for her past, which takes her to Birmingham to help with orphaned children, and thence to St Ives. After this, she goes to Italy, first to Naples, Pompey and Mount Vesuvius, then to Venice and thence to Burano.

This is a dual story line as the reader follows the story of not only Kate, but also of Sofia, Kate’s mother, who’s returned to Italy after living in America for years.

Various characters appear on the way, including the members of the Arden family and a neighbouring family, the people involved in the excavations into a Roman village on the Arden estate, those who are helping with the children in Birmingham and in Cornwall, and the community of female artists in Venice. In Sofia’s story we learn of the Contessa and her loyal servant Magdalena.

Despite the movement between places, I’m afraid that I found the story slow, thought everything about Kate’s journey too pat and too easy, and the key characters, Kate and Sofia, undeveloped. Undeveloped, too, were the minor characters, I thought. They never really stepped off the page and became believable people. The author had tried to do a lot, possibly too much as there were so many different narrative strands, and so many different characters fleetingly met, that the reader was swiftly moved on from one name to the next.

There was no real suspense as the reader knew from the outset that Sofia and Kate would meet. I was surprised, though, at the absence of emotion in their actual meeting, and the lack of emotion in the story as a whole, despite the potential for emotion in the different activities undertaken by Kate. I think the lack of character development might have been responsible for this absence.

Having said that, my criticism is of the content, not the writing. The author writes very well, and I thought some of her descriptions were excellent. She managed to capture the atmosphere of Venice, and the paragraphs set there took me back to my last visit.

Thank you, NetGalley and Storm, for an advanced review copy. The review is my honest opinion.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. I enjoyed the story, once it moved on a bit from the first couple of chapters. Kate always knew she didn't fit in the Arden family but was unsure why. As her early memories surfaced and she could identify there source she became determined to find out more. However it was wartime, so the eal search taking her to Naples and Venice didn't take place until later. Kate develops nicely as a young woman. The other characters were less strong.
I can recommend this book, although I enjoyed The Last Train to leave Paris more.

This was a really enjoyable story about Kate as she navigates the journey of finding out where she came from and find her birth family. This story has multiple perspectives, which started out slow but improved throughout the story. I found it really interesting to read about this sad time during the war from a different perspective than many historical fiction stories. Juliet Greenwood did a great job pulling us into the character's lives by creating relatable and likable character stories. Huge thank you to Juliet Greenwood, NetGalley, and Storm Publishing for allowing me to read and review this work. I look forward to finding more of Greenwood's work, as this was the first of her work that I've read.