The Venice Sketchbook

“I lay on my bed listening to the sounds beyond my shutters: the slap of oars, the putter of motorboats, the cooing of pigeons and the high-pitched squeaks of the swallows. And I felt ridiculously content, as if everything made sense for the first time in my life. No more Miss Masters’s Academy for Young Ladies. The whole world awaited me.”

This moment reveals Juliet’s character as she exists prior to loss and sacrifice: hopeful, romantic, and ambitious. It serves as a reference point to understand how much Juliet lost and gave up, and it also serves as foreshadowing; Juliet believes she has the world ahead of her, but she will soon lose the opportunities available to her now.

“‘And what about me?’ she wanted to ask. ‘Do you think that my job is what I dreamed of when we were in art school? I had as much talent as you, and yet you were the one who got the job with a fashion house…and I was the one who got pregnant.’”

This quote from Caroline’s thoughts provides character backstory while also setting up Caroline’s inner conflict and resentment. It also reveals the similarities between Caroline and Juliet, creating the potential for Caroline to find the happiness denied to Juliet.

“‘Why are you always so nice?’ Caroline remembered asking her. ‘So kind. So forgiving?’ ‘I wasn’t always,’ her great-aunt replied. ‘Experience makes one come to terms with life, to be at one with the mind and the heart. And most people are suffering in some way.’”

This is one of only two insights into who Juliet becomes decades after the war—a kind and understanding, but also withdrawn woman. Her words also foreshadow Caroline’s discovery of her own suffering and the experiences that taught her about the suffering of others.