The Hourglass

When I read about this novel I was very curious to see if it would be possible to hang around - especially as a talented opera diva, a wife, a mother - for three hundred years through wars and plagues and changing country borders in a place as busy as Venice without anyone actually noticing. I am pleased to say that it is. This tale was handled very well, bringing us from 1684 through the year 2000 with very little confusion about who we are with and what time we are sharing.

Eva was traveling Europe with her mother and siblings in 1686. On the eve of her sixteenth birthday she was in dire straights, a dangerously high fever and on the verge of death when her mother remembered a doctor scientist she had met in Venice. He is able to save Eva with a concoction he had been working on to extend the body's process of renewing itself and thus adding years to the healthy middle part of life. Eva's mother was instructed to continue the treatments of ten drops every day until the vial of medicine was used up and Eva had returned to health. Side effects? The doctor wasn't sure....

Eva's first marriage was to Victor Murnau. She performed under many names over the next 300 years, but her initials were always EM. Her first true love was Lorenzo, whom she lost track of for many years. She would have over those years several husbands, some love matches, some for convenience or protection. She bore one son, and adopted a daughter whom she treasured dearly.
Often she traveled, signing up with various city opera houses for the season. Once a generation she would take a season or two off or perform in foreign lands, and return to her home in Venice as her own niece, or granddaughter. In this way she was able to work at a job she loved in a city she adored for all of the time allotted to her.

received a free electronic copy of this very interesting novel from Netgalley, Liz Heron and Unbound Digital in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

I loved this book: it's engaging and enthralling.
I loved the style of writing, so beautiful. The characters were well developed and I loved how they were written.
I loved the plot and how it describes Venice, so dreamy and poetic.
It was an amazing reading experience and I look forward to reading other books by this writer.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Unbound and Netgalley for this ARC

Liz Heron’s The Hourglass is a breathtaking, mystical and musical novel that will captivate any reader who has traveled abroad or even merely traveled within the pages of a good book. The romance and mystery drew me in until the exquisite final few pages. I can’t wait to see what Heron writes next!

I really enjoyed this book. The story within a story structure created an eagerness within me to find out the truth and the ending.

I thought that this book was unputdownable and I read it in one sitting. It was really well-written and I felt emotionally invested in the characters. I would definitely be interested in reading more from this author.

The cover is also beautiful and a great design for the book!

The ending had a good length build up and I was happy with the resolve. It was beautiful!