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1 " We humans have the capacity to survive almost anything. Not only to survive but to come through triumphant. Another door will open. You’ll see. A better one. A safer one. A brighter future. "
― Rhys Bowen , The Venice Sketchbook
2 " He picked up a glass of Prosecco and handed it to me. “So you’re visiting here?” “I’m here for a year, studying at the accademia,” I said. “I got a bursary to take leave from my teaching job.” “Jolly nice. I’d make the most of it, if I were you. Venice is still one of the few civilized cities in the world. The racial laws created last year by Il Duce were supposed to exclude Jews from education and teaching and then to strip them of property. None of that has happened here. The Venetians still live quite happily and do business in the ghetto and turn a blind eye to those of Jewish origin, like our dear contessa here.” I looked at him with surprise and then turned my gaze to Contessa Fiorito. I remembered now that she had mentioned her parents were Jewish émigrés. “But her husband was an Italian count,” I said. “Indeed he was, but that has nothing to do with her racial origin. Born of a poor Jewish family in Paris, so I understand. Of course she is well respected here and does a lot in the way of philanthropy for the city. Most people don’t even know her heritage.” He drew closer to me. “I have advised her to have an escape plan ready, just in case. "
3 " that a time of stress and tragedy takes away all but the will to survive. "
4 " 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. "
5 " survived.” Her grandmother gave a sad little smile. “Most of us survive the hardest things. We are quite resilient. "
6 " Not to marry?” “Someday maybe.” I blushed when I said this, glad it was dark. “But not until I know who I am and what I want. "
7 " You cannot live someone else’s life. Your life is what you make of it. You have to decide what you want. "
8 " Tomorrow I would start sketching, and in September I would be a student at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. I dipped my pen into the ink and wrote, Juliet Browning. Begun May 1928. "
9 " You are the visiting students from abroad,” he said. “I should like to invite you, my foreign visitors, to a small soirée at my house tonight to make you feel welcome in Venice. Eight o’clock. It’s the third floor, number 314, on the Fondamenta del Forner in San Polo, not far from the Frari. You know the Frari?” I didn’t. Neither did a couple of the others. “It’s the big church called Santa Maria Gloriosa—but to us it’s the Frari,” the professor said. “You will learn in Venice nobody calls anything by its real name. The vaporetti stop is San Toma. If you are coming from the other side of the Grand Canal, you can cross by the traghetto at San Toma. All right. Good. See you tonight. "
10 " After years of working on the periphery of the fashion industry, she had come to realize the whole thing was an underhanded attempt to force women to keep buying clothes. Fast fashion had taken over. Topshop, H&M, Primark. What was in would be out in a month. "
11 " At least the two beds looked normal enough, with their crisp white sheets, and there was a desk and chair in the front window, which looked out on to the garden, with a sliver of a view of the Grand Canal beyond. I went over to the window, opened it and gazed out. The scent of jasmine rose to greet me. "
