A. R. Homer

Having visited beautiful Nemi, Italy, a few years ago, I was initially thrilled to discover this novel set in the village. Nemi is located on the edge of an extinct volcanic crater in the Alban hills, about 15 miles southeast of Rome. Lake Nemi (Lago di Nemi), at the bottom of the crater, is called the “Mirror of Diana” because there was a temple to the goddess here in ancient times and the woods were considered sacred to her. The lake is also famous because the emperor Caligula (d. 41 AD) kept two very large ships here -- one a temple of Diana, the other a floating pleasure palace. These were raised in the 1930s, and a museum was built to house them. The lingering mystery over the destruction of the ships as the German army was retreating from Nemi in 1944, and a love affair between the fictional museum curator’s daughter and a German officer, are the focal points of this novel.

But unfortunately, I was very disappointed. This novel is a workmanlike effort but nothing more. It’s populated with stock characters whose actions are predictable, and who lack the inner lives needed to make the reader care much about them. Nor does the book bring either the time period or the place fully alive in the way that first-class historical fiction can do. I was really looking forward to learning more about Nemi and the Roman ships – but this book fails to deliver more than a few small scraps of information.

The positive blurbs given to this book appear to be based more on wishful thinking than actual merit. Italian officials who praised it, for example, are probably just gratified to have attention drawn to the town and the nonprofit association set up for the reconstruction of one of the ships.… (meer)