ROMOLA by GEORGE ELIOT (1863)

To say that this book is not very accessible would be an understatement, at least for me. I started reading it at least four times before I finally stuck with it. It takes 50 pages for Romola, the heroine, to enter the picture and for the actual plot to get started. Those first 50 pages were non-starters, filled with details about Florence in the late 1400s, Latin phrases and quotations, and mentions of famous (at the time) personages, all unfamiliar to me. A 50-page Notes section at the end of the book clarified things somewhat, but it took a great deal of time to page back and forth from the text to the notes to understand what was being conveyed.

Once the actual story gets started, however, the book begins to be very engrossing, although still filled with unfamiliar events, phrases, and people. (About this time, I decided to dispense with the Notes and just charge ahead.) When Tito, a beautiful stranger to the city, becomes secretary to her scholar father, Romola's whole life changes. She is charmed by his good looks, delightful personality, and obvious intelligence, and they soon become engaged. There's just one problem: unbeknownst to Romola, Tito is a real snake in the grass. His only love is himself, and he is ready to betray anyone and everyone to obtain his desires, precisely as he begins to do soon after he and Romola are married.

Will Romola discover what a mistake she has made? How will she react if she finds out? Can she bear to go on when her world crumbles? These were the questions in my mind that kept me reading to the end of this long, rather difficult book. That George Eliot so fully and believably delineated Romola's character and that the situation of a woman betrayed by love blindness is so universal and timeless were added incentives.

Before reading this, I knew next to nothing about the time and place. I had heard of the religious reformer and mystic Savonarola, who has a major role in the narrative, but I knew nothing of his involvement in Florentine politics. Now, thanks to this novel and Wikipedia, I know a good deal more than I did before. It's always good to learn new things.

This would have been a more enjoyable novel for me if its setting had been more familiar. The base story and the writing are impressive, but the background details and political maneuvering sometimes made it a chore.