Camille Christie

Beatrice & Julia Camille Christie

Beatrice & JuliaWith a sensuous eye and profound sense of history, Camille T. Christie tells the story of Julia Allen's quest for the truth about the murder of Beatrice Cenci-s father, a 16th century Roman nobleman. Julia herself is under suspicion by the NYPD for her father-s death. The case was not pursued for lack of evidence. While in the chapel of the Cenci, Julia meets a humble but shrewd custodian who asks for her help in getting an ancient prayer book smuggled out of the country. It turns out to contain several handwritten sheets of the Beatrice-s journal. The journal reveals Beatrice, as she was, neither a heroine nor a cruel murderer, which somehow overcomes fate and death. At Petrella Castle, Julia takes the path to the same mountain where the patricide occurred. There, an image of her father-s death comes back to her. The mountain becomes a metaphor for the cruelty that both women experienced at the hands of their fathers. Here is a novel, both tragic and joyous, intelligent and erotic, a transcendent celebration of passion at the end of two different centuries. A wonderful book, which yields spiritual wisdom and promises to stay long in the mind.