The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci by Belle Ami starts briefly in nineteen forty-four when the world is at war, and the Germans are bombing Florence, Italy. Sophia Caro is scared. Scared of the bombs and scared because her lover Gerhard Jaeger is a German officer! It then moves forward to the present day and introduces us to Angela Renatus, an intern at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Angela is plagued by headaches caused by lack of sleep. She has strange, vivid, and repetitive dreams about fifteenth-century Italy, which unsettle her. Dr. Alberto Scordato is the director of the museum and Angela's boss. He has a penchant for young women, and Angela is scared of him. Scordato has noticed that Angela has been acting strangely and asks security for a copy of the video surveillance of the red gallery where a Botticelli is hanging. He cannot believe what he sees. Every day for weeks, Angela has been walking in a trance to the gallery. She sits in front of the Botticelli and has a one-sided conversation with the painting in Italian!
Alex Cain, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, has been commissioned to find out whether a da Vinci painting of a wedding exists. He is also investigating Scordato, as there have been discrepancies in the accounts. Alex sees Angela in one of her trances and falls in love with her. He also realizes she may be a link to finding the missing painting, which, being by da Vinci, is worth a fortune. Are Angela's dreams part of the puzzle? Does Alex find the Da Vinci painting? What is Scordato hiding? Moreover, how are Sophia and Gerhard involved? Read The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci by Belle Ami to discover the answers to these and other questions.
The story moves backward and forwards in time. It covers the present day with Angela and Alex, the nineteen forties with Sophia and Gerhard, and fourteen seventy-five with Leonardo da Vinci. I liked how Belle Ami moved effortlessly between the different eras and gave a feel for the times with great descriptions of the people, places, and changes in how people spoke.
Angela Renatus and Alex Cain are the main characters, but we are told very little about their back stories, so they are relatively flat. When Alex sees Angela to her apartment after having a meal together, they find it has been broken into. Angela is obviously a competent and intelligent young woman. She is an intern at the Getty Museum and rents an expensive apartment. However, she does not quibble when Alex insists on staying the night to protect her and, the next day, proceeds to organize her day's plans. I found it unbelievable that Angela would do as Alex says despite the fact she felt comfortable with him! If you are a reader of erotica, you will enjoy the second half of the book, in which Alex and Angela's sex life dominates! I found the intimate details of their sex life unnecessary and did not enjoy this part of the book.
I recommend The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci by Belle Ami to adults who enjoy thrillers, romance, and historical fiction. Please note that there is nothing factual in this book and the reference to Da Vinci in the title only refers to a fictional painting. There are swearing and sexual scenes in the book, which make it inappropriate for a younger audience.
I want to give The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci 3 out of 5 stars. I found the conversational passages far too long-winded, which tended to make the book boring. I would have liked there to have been more depth to what could have been an exciting story.
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