“Who is l’Alouette du Sud?”
Excerpt…
Venice, December 1323
The goliard had taken himself and his lute to the largest of the local inns and was there to be heard singing songs of the Princess Padmini and the night it rained emeralds, and telling floridly embellished tales of the hedonistic life lived in Cambaluc and Kinsai. Very little exaggeration was necessary to enthrall his audience, which swelled as his fame spread. Before long he began to receive invitations for private concerts in canal-side palazzos.
“Not since l’Alouette du Sud have I heard such a voice,” Jaufre heard one grizzled old Frankish roué claim.
“One would think Venetians would be a little more sophisticated,” Félicien told Jaufre when this was reported back to him, “but every fish bites at some bait, I suppose.” And spoiled his supercilious tone with a jingling shake of his full purse and a wide grin.
“Who is l’Alouette du Sud?”
Félicien gave an airy wave. “A singer not quite as talented as myself, it would seem.”
Dana sez–
Johanna and the gang are not people who sit down and do nothing until their money runs out. They all have skills and they can pay their own way and they do so wherever they go. Including Venice, where they patiently earn their keep while their fearless leader tries to make contact with her lost family.
A book should never rest on the shoulders of a single character, not even the hero. A strong, diverse, colorful cast of characters is what keeps people reading.
Well, it does me, anyway.
