The Girl of His Dreams

Jan 22, 2025 10:25 PM

Author:Donna Leon

'In The Girl of His Dreams, Donna Leon is writing at her fluent best.' The Independent

2008 Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year

Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Bestseller

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One rainy morning Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to an emergency call reporting a body floating near some steps on the Grand Canal. Reaching down to pull it out, Brunetti's wrist is caught by the silkiness of golden hair, and he sees a small foot - together he and Vianello lift a dead girl from the water.

But, inconceivably, no one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewellery that she carries. Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death but also for her identity, her family, and for the secrets that people will keep in order to protect their children - be they innocent or guilty.

From the canals and palazzi of Venice to a gypsy encampment on the mainland, Brunetti struggles with institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.

Reviews

In The Girl of His Dreams, Donna Leon is writing at her fluent best

—— The Independent

Written in a powerful, economical style...Leon's 17th novel is one of her darkest and most reflective

—— Guardian

Another intriguing episode in this fine series

—— Sunday Telegraph

The Girl of his Dreams is an artful examination of family ties as well as a clear-eyed survey of the pros and cons of political correctness

—— Evening Standard

The seventeenth title in an excellent, unflagging series...The Girl of His Dreams marks an evolution, even a quiet revolution, in Leon's storytelling

—— TLS

Donna Leon has a talent for scene-setting and plot-twisting which has hooked in millions of fans, and if you've never sampled their wares, there couldn't be a better place to start than this

—— Sunday Telegraph

Gorgeously written . . . the seventeenth book in this superlative series restates Leon's themes with more intensity than usual

—— Marilyn Stasio , The New York Times Book Review

An unusually political novel, this is as gripping and readable as any in the Reacher series.

—— The Times

It's a testament to Lee Child's superb story-telling skills that...the interest doesn't flag for an instant...Like Reacher, Child doesn't do things by halves.

—— Yorkshire Evening Post

Gripping and addictive...Reacher's stripped-down life is echoed by Lee Child's lean and spare prose.

—— Irish Independent

One of the genre's most enduring heroes. Tough, solitary, righteous and incorruptible, [Reacher] harks back to another great fictional detective, Philip Marlowe.

—— Glasgow Herald

A new Jack Reacher novel arrives as the year's first red-hot beach book...the success of these books rests partly on the big, hulking shoulders of their charismatic hero...one of the most enduring action heroes on the American landscape.

—— New York Times

This haunting, stand-alone novel is a subtler work than Child's previous output and offers a sensitively handled romantic sub-plot to boot.

—— Daily Telegraph

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