Matt is a normal English seventeen-year-old, until a book he got for his birthday takes him on the journey of his life - to another world. So in Talia, MaĬITY OF SECRETS is the fourth installment in Mary Hoffman's STRAVAGANZA series. And in Talia, as is a normal occurence, any afflictions one has in England is corrected in the new world. Little does he know that after he falls fast asleep, he will enter the city of Padavia of Talia. Mortimer's antique shop, for some reason he is fascinated by an antiquarian leather bound book in Latin and takes it home as a cool novelty. Matteo doesn't care much for words, writing or reading, for he is dyslexic and finds reading nearly impossible. Book four, City of Secrets introduces a new Stravagante, young Matt or Matteo, who is given a book token as a birthday gift from his aunt. Stravagating, as explained in book one, was accidently invented by one Dottore Dethridge, an Elizabethan alchemist, who early in the series adopts the main character of all the books, Lucien, or Luciano, as his foster son, a cavalier being groomed to be the future Duke of Belezza. Stravagantes can travel back and forth, with their Talismans, alternating from modern day England to this Italian Renaissance world. When they arrive, they are found and informed that they are chosen members of a selected secret society called Stravagantes. These selected items become their Talismans in which when the teens fall asleep with them, they are transported to the world of Talia. The series is about a group of teenagers in London who all happen to meander into an antique shop. These stories are so full of adventure, and are enchanting and exciting. The writing is totally evocative of the whole culture in Italy at that time, rich in wealth, and steeped in romance, art, religion and history. Every page a work of art as the reader is totally transported out of the room they are reading in, far away to Talia. The period detail that Mary Hoffman gives to this series of a glamorous Renaissance Italian world is incredible. Each book is about a different character in a different city state of Talia, cities that correlate to real places we have in Italy today such as Venice, Florence, Siena and Padua. The author has clearly put many years and incredible effort into creating her world of Talia, an alternate world of Italy in the 1500's. ![]() There are many, many references in this book to events and characters in the previous novels that are key to this story's unfolding. Without first reading City of Masks, City of Stars, and City of Flowers, you will be totally clueless and will not understand who is who and what is happening. ![]() One must read all three other novels before starting the City of Secrets. ![]() One warning about this episode, it is not a stand alone story. City of Secrets continues to carry over a high standard mix of quality writing, fabulous characters and thickened multi-layered plots. With all the hundreds of young adult fiction books that are published each year, Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza books still remain my all-time favorite series since I picked up the first installment seven years ago.
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