Book Review of Juliet by Anne Fortier

ABOUT THIS BOOK Random House

Twenty-five-year-old Julie Jacobs is heartbroken over the death of her beloved aunt Rose. But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie’s twin sister. The only thing Julie receives is a key—one carried by her mother on the day she herself died—to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy.
This key sends Julie on a journey that will change her life forever—a journey into the troubled past of her ancestor Giulietta Tolomei. In 1340, still reeling from the slaughter of her parents, Giulietta was smuggled into Siena, where she met a young man named Romeo. Their ill-fated love turned medieval Siena upside-down and went on to inspire generations of poets and artists, the story reaching its pinnacle in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
But six centuries have a way of catching up to the present, and Julie gradually begins to discover that here, in this ancient city, the past and present are hard to tell apart. The deeper she delves into the history of Romeo and Giulietta, and the closer she gets to the treasure they allegedly left behind, the greater the danger surrounding her—superstitions, ancient hostilities, and personal vendettas. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in the unforgettable blood feud, she begins to fear that the notorious curse—“A plague on both your houses!”—is still at work, and that she is destined to be its next target. Only someone like Romeo, it seems, could save her from this dreaded fate, but his story ended long ago. Or did it?
From Anne Fortier comes a sweeping, beautifully written novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied—for better or worse—to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers.
My Thoughts
Juliet by Anne Fortier is a story told in two different timeframes. Juliet Jacobs learns after her beloved aunt dies that she has a mystery to solve and that the mystery is about the characters of Romeo and Gulietta in 1340. From the time she arrives in Sienna she finds that someone is after the same thing she is and soon becomes aware that she is in danger. The only thing that Julie has received from her aunts estate is a key and a passport with the name Gulietta Tolomei, which is her true name. After she goes to the bank in Sienna Italy to find what the key opens, Julie finds a diary of sorts that tells the story of Gulietta and Romeo and what happened to them. It appears that the story of these two ill-fated lovers is  supposedly the basis of Shakespeare's tale of Romeo and Juliet.
Julie has a twin sister Janice, who she has a strained relationship with. It turns out that Julie and her sister are descendants of the Tolomeis of the 14th century. As Julie digs deeper she finds that there was a bitter rivalry between the Tolomeis and the Salimbenis which resembles the hatred between the Capulets and Montagues from the story told by Shakespeare. Aside from this story, Julie is determined to find out what happened to her mother Diana, who died young in a car accident. The danger increases for Juliet, her hotel room is ramsacked, she is followed by a would be assailant and chased by someone on a motorcycle. This does not stop Juliet from continuing her search for the truth. Juliet turns to Allesandro , who's ancestors are the Salimbenis, to assist her, but she is not sure she can trust him as she has a mistake from her past that she does not want to come to the surface.   
The story flows smoothly between the 1300's to present day with a lot of historical significance and also has a fair amount of mystery and sadness because of  ancient grudges brought into the lives of Juliet and her sister Janice. This is a wonderful rendition of a well known love story with enough suspense to keep the reader wanting more. I really enjoyed this book.
I received a copy of this book from Cheryl at RandomHouse, Ballantine Books and was not monetarily compensated for my review.