Kathleen Ann González
Author
Kathleen González has done it again! Flirting with Fortune: Casanova in Rome is a highly entertaining read that fills a gap not only in books about the Venetian adventurer but also in travel writing for anyone visiting the Eternal City. This book is a popular guide that is also meticulously researched, presenting new information about Casanova and his experiences. It’s great fun and will be a new, indispensable classic for tourists, lovers of Rome, and specialists alike.
--Tom Vitelli, Editor of Casanoviana
Announcing the new book
Flirting with Fortune: Casanova in Rome
Clutching letters of introduction, intending to pave his way to the priesthood, adolescent Casanova arrived in Rome. The year was 1743. A future of religious devotion was soon abandoned as he was seduced by sparkling conversations, wild flirtations, French lessons, the lottery, libraries stuffed with books, and ices in candle-lit salons. Experience Rome through eighteenth century eyes, where riderless horses careen down the Corso during Carnevale and cardinals clandestinely meet in cafes.
Flirting with Fortune: Casanova in Rome invites us to eavesdrop on Casanova's conversations with powerful priests, love affairs, laughter with popes, and carriage rides to countryside villas. From the convent to the card room, none of his adventures turned out quite how he had hoped, but as a gambler and a lover of life, there was always a chance that fortune was right around the corner.
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Giacomo Casanova, best known as a great lover, lived a life of letters as well as love. During his three sojourns to Rome in the mid-eighteenth century, he had love affairs--yes--but he also fraternized with nobles and clergy as well as common folk. Kathleen González not only reveals Casanova's haunts but also explores the social mores of the day, from sharing inn beds with strangers to sleeping with family members. Both scholarly and entertaining, Flirting with Fortune: Casanova in Rome will make your own Roman sojourn unforgettable.​
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Learn more at Flirting with Fortune
About Me
I started out as a teacher but was surprised to find that I was a writer and dancer as well. While I spend most of each year trying to infect teenagers with my great enthusiasm for literature and writing, I still squeeze in time to research and write. I travel as often as funds and time off allow and dance to keep my spirit alive. My particular interest in Venice, Italy, has led me to research and write a number of books about the city and its people. I hope you'll enjoy learning more about my books, videos, blog, and other works on the pages here.
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Praise for Free Gondola Ride:
"WOW! I loved it. Savored every page. This book brought me back to Venice in my thoughts, my dreams, and all of my obsessive subconscious."
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Greg Mohr, President, Gondola Society of America
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Praise for Seductive Venice: In Casanova's Footsteps:
"The lack of a guidebook to Casanova sites has long been a glaring gap for literary pilgrims to Venice. Kathleen Gonzalez's meticulously researched new book is sure to fill it admirably."
Tony Perrottet, author of The Sinner's Grand Tour
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Praise for A Beautiful Woman in Venice:
“Kathleen González gives us a series of fascinating portraits of Venetian women from the Middle Ages to the end of the Republic. Some of them are already well-known figures but many will be new to most readers; whether they are nuns or courtesans, painters or poets, scholars or oarswomen, González brings them to life for the reader, showing a full understanding of the great obstacles they had to overcome to achieve their place in history. The book, like her earlier ones, is remarkable not only for its wide-ranging scholarship but also for its enthusiasm for all things Venetian.”
Gregory Dowling, author of In Venice and in the Veneto with Lord Byron.
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Praise for First Spritz Is Free: Confessions of Venice Addicts:
"Pulling back the curtain on stately Venice, this heartfelt collection of intimate portraits renders the seductive city in detail. Beyond gondolas, masks and memories shared in delicious tidbits lies a tale of love and longing. Like countless others through the ages, no matter where they began, nor when the arc of time brought them to Venice, nor which kaleidoscopic images framed their journeys, these authors all succumbed to Venice's magical charms."
Christine Evelyn Volker
Award-winning Author of Venetian Blood: Murder in a Sensuous City
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MY BOOKS
