Glassmaking, like many crafts, has a vocabulary all its own. In this book I’ve taken all but one of the glassmaking terms from Murano: Island of Glass by Attilia Dorigato, who derives his terms in part from documents dating from the Renaissance. (I’ve taken malmoro from Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice: The Fragile Craft, by W. Patrick McCray.)
During the Renaissance the authorities made many efforts to keep Murano’s glassmakers from taking their secrets to other countries. Numerous decrees were passed, imposing fines, banishment, or prison sentences on glass artisans who left Murano to practice their craft beyond the Venetian lagoon.
According to some historians the authorities went even further in their attempts to protect trade secrets: If a glassmaker left the lagoon, agents of the state would seek him out, wherever he was, and kill him.
At the time in which Falcon in the Glass is set, Murano was part of the Republic of Venice, which was governed by a doge — or duke — and the Council of Ten, a group of noblemen who had extraordinary powers and a fearsome reputation. Sometimes they were referred to simply as “the Ten.” If a citizen wished to denounce someone to the doge or the Ten, all he had to do was slip a written message through a slot in one of several Lion’s Mouth boxes that could be found scattered across the city of Venice.
Visitors to Venice today can tour the prisons, located across a narrow canal from the Doge’s Palace. But these prisons had not yet been built at the time of this story; most prisoners were then housed on the ground floor of the Doge’s Palace itself. However, prisoners from elite classes or people not yet convicted might be taken to cells high up in the palace, cells called “the Leads,” from the sheets of lead used to cover the roof just above. It was from the Leads, much later, that Giovanni Giacomo Casanova famously escaped, managing somehow to scramble onto the roof and then climb down through a skylight into an attic. He passed through a number of rooms and at one point leaned out a window, where he was seen by a guard who mistook him for an official and let him out.
I was surprised to learn that at least some prisoners were supplied with oil lamps, which they kept burning day and night. Apparently many of the cells were subdivided into chambers with wooden walls. I’ve chosen to use stone walls for the purposes of this story, and I’ve invented some details regarding the prison doors.
The Doge’s Palace, situated in a low-lying part of Venice, is particularly vulnerable to a lagoon-wide phenomenon called acqua alta, or “high water.” These seasonal, exceptionally high tides tend to occur with the conjunction of a new or full moon, rain, and a sirocco wind. Although episodes of acqua alta are becoming more and more frequent in modern times, many such inundations have been documented back to the Middle Ages. Today visitors walk on elevated planks when an occurrence of acqua alta floods the palace and Saint Mark’s Square.
Carnivale (or Carnival) was the annual celebration wherein citizens wore costumes and masks, staged plays, ate heartily, danced, and made merry before the privations of Lent. The festival of Carnivale began in the Middle Ages and continues in the present day.
On a final note, if you go to Venice, you’ll notice that people usually stand while rowing their boats — one oar per person. However in the past there was a type of small fishing boat in which a single man, with the aid of a central oarlock, rowed using two crossed oars. Renzo and Vittorio travel in such a boat when crossing from Murano to Venice. Some readers may be surprised when Renzo encounters the island of San Cristoforo, which is not in evidence today. Originally, San Cristoforo and San Michele were two separate islands, but the area between them was filled in during the nineteenth century, and the combined island is now known as San Michele.
If you’d like to know more about Murano glass, I recommend Murano: Island of Glass by Attilia Dorigato and Murano: A History of Glass by Gianfranco Toso. If you’d like to delve even deeper into the historical and technical aspects of Murano glassmaking, I recommend Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice: The Fragile Craft by W. Patrick McCray.
If you’d like to know more about the old Venetian prisons, I recommend The Prisons of the Doge’s Palace in Venice by Umberto Franzoi and The Medieval Prison: A Social History by G. Geltner.
If you’d like to know more about how people lived in Venice during the Renaissance, I recommend the elegant and richly illustrated Private Lives in Renaissance Venice and Art and Life in Renaissance Venice, both by Patricia Fortini Brown.
If you’d like a more general view of Venice and its history, I recommend the incomparable The World of Venice by Jan Morris.
— Susan Fletcher
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m grateful for the generosity of so many people who helped me with this book.
Ellen Howard, Winifred Morris, Kathi Appelt, Marion Dane Bauer, Linda Zuckerman, and Kelly Fletcher read and commented on the manuscript; each one helped immeasurably. My critique group — including Carmen Bernier-Grand, Nancy Coffelt, David Gifaldi, Eric Kimmel, and Pamela Smith Hill — patiently listened to chapter after chapter on Wednesday evenings and showed me how the manuscript might be improved. Cynthia Whitcomb taught me a joyful way to move through the first draft.
Patricia Fortini Brown read the entire manuscript for accuracy and directed me to resources that told me just what I needed to know. Patrick McCray and Charlene Fort checked to make sure the details about glassmaking were correct. Dr. John Morrison lent me his expertise on injuries to the eye. Doris Kimmel set me straight on both glassmaking and birds and kindly lent me books from her personal library. Silvana Hale brought her knowledge of Venice to bear on the manuscript and helped me with words and phrases in Italian and the Venetian dialect. Jim Nolte, head librarian at Vermont College of Fine Arts, gave me invaluable research assistance. Nina and Laurent Rochette and Janice Simnetta went out of their way to find resources for me. Jerry Fletcher advised me on many matters, most notably those involving the carpentry shop.
Thanks so much to Emily Fabre for her help and enthusiasm for the project. Most especially, I want to thank my agent, Elizabeth Harding — for taking me on, getting this project on the road, and smoothing the way — and my editor, Karen Wojtyla, for her wisdom, humor, and trust.
SUSAN FLETCHER is the acclaimed author of The Dragon Chronicles, composed of Dragon’s Milk; Flight of the Dragon Kyn; Sign of the Dove; and Ancient, Strange, and Lovely. She also wrote Alphabet of Dreams, which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Shadow Spinner, which was an ABC Children’s Booksellers Choice; and Walk Across the Sea. Ms. Fletcher lives in Wilsonville, Oregon. Visit her online at susanfletcher.com.
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Simon & Schuster, New York
Meet the author, watch videos, and get extras at
KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com
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ALSO BY SUSAN FLETCHER
THE DRAGON CHRONICLES
Dragon’s Milk
Flight of the Dragon Kyn
Sign of the Dove
Ancient, Strange, and Lovely
OTHER BOOKS BY SUSAN FLETCHER:
Alphabet of Dreams
Shadow Spinner
Walk Across the Sea
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MARGARET K. McELDERRY BOOKS ◆ An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division ◆ 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 ◆ www.SimonSchuster.com ◆ This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. ◆ Copyright © 2013 by Susan Fletcher ◆ Jacket illustration by Craig Howell ◆ All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. ◆ MARGARET K. MCELDERRY BOOKS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. ◆ The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049
or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. ◆ The text for this book is set in Centaur MT. ◆ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ◆ Fletcher, Susan, 1951– ◆ Falcon in the glass / Susan Fletcher. — First edition. ◆ p. cm. ◆ Summary: “Eleven-year-old Renzo must teach himself to blow glass with the help of a girl who has a mysterious connection to her falcon” — Provided by publisher. ◆ ISBN 978-1-4424-2990-1 (hardcover) ◆ ISBN 978-1-4424-2992-5 (eBook) ◆ [1. Glass blowing and working — Fiction. 2. Human-animal communication — Fiction. 3. Birds — Fiction. 4. Murano (Italy) — History — Fiction. 5. Italy — History — Fiction.] I. Title. ◆ PZ7. F6356Fal 2013 ◆ [Fic] — dc23 ◆ 2012022468
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