New Reader Views Five-Star review for Rome’s Last Noble Palace
Always an honor to receive favorable editorial reviews, so I’m thrilled to receive a Five-Star review for my latest novel, Rome’s Last Noble Palace, from Reader Views.
Here below is the review.
Open the pages of “Rome’s Last Noble Palace” by Kimberly Sullivan and you are transported through time in this historical fiction work spanning two centuries.
Sophie is a young woman and mother. She travels to Rome, Italy to give a lecture on Persian art at the Palazzo Brancaccio. She is hesitant to walk through those doors because history has not been kind to her. She remembers the events of 2006 when she was at the Palazzo Brancaccio as a young intern planning and curating a Persian art exhibit there alongside her assistant Sayed. Sayed was a young man from Iran who was fluent in Italian and English.
In 1896, an American girl, Isabelle, is sent to live with her wealthy aunt, Elizabeth, at the Palazzo Brancaccio. Her mother wants her to marry a wealthy man with status. Isabelle is a girl with dreams of opening her own atelier with her friend Stefania. She wants to marry for love, not status. Isabelle falls in love with a talented opera singer named Lamberto, but her hand of marriage is promised to Count Massimo.
The thread connecting Sophie and Isabelle is a small attic room in the palace. It is in that room that each woman experiences traumas that leave them making challenging decisions with lifelong consequences.
Kimberly Sullivan is known for her dual timeline novels, and she does not let her readers down with “Rome’s Last Noble Palace.” She presents a story filled with historical facts but sewn together with a supernatural thread. Sophie thinks she sees a ghost that is warning her of the danger she is facing.
Both storylines are well thought out and flow at a reasonable pace. Sullivan clearly knows her Roman history and sprinkles facts in just the right places. She creates scenes that will make you believe you have been transported into the story. Readers can clearly visualize the shops, parks, theaters, and the Palazzo Brancaccio.
Sullivan accurately portrays the struggles of women as the 20th century emerges. She also shares how trauma affects all areas of our lives, no matter what century we are in. “Rome’s Last Noble Palace” is an exceptional piece of historical fiction. Readers are kept well-engaged and will leave the story wanting to plan a trip to Rome.
