This novel is about a woman's journey seeking to find the absentee father she idolized and realizing the truth about her father. It is Gabriella's journey into adulthood and letting go of childhood illusions.Character development and story development was rich but also slowed the pace of the story significantly. The plausibility of Gabriella being able to travel with just two elderly servants in 16th century Europe was also really hard to believe and constantly nagged at me even though I tried not to let it affect me.
If you don't mind the implausibilty and rather rich detailing, you will enjoy this book.
I wish we could do half stars. I can't give it a 3 but it deserves more than a 2 star rating.