The only thing Julie receives is a key-one carried by her mother on the day she herself died-to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy. But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie’s twin sister. Twenty-five-year-old Julie Jacobs is heartbroken over the death of her beloved aunt Rose. Or did it? From Anne Fortier comes a sweeping, beautifully written novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied-for better or worse-to literature's greatest star-crossed lovers.A young woman who discovers that her family’s origins reach all the way back to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers. Only someone like Romeo, it seems, could save her from this dreaded fate, but his story ended long ago. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in the unforgettable blood feud, she begins to fear that the notorious curse-'A plague on both your houses!'-is still at work, and that she is destined to be its next target. The deeper she delves into the history of Romeo and Giulietta, and the closer she gets to the treasure they allegedly left behind, the greater the danger surrounding her-superstitions, ancient hostilities, and personal vendettas.

But six centuries have a way of catching up to the present, and Julie gradually begins to discover that here, in this ancient city, the past and present are hard to tell apart. Their ill-fated love turned medieval Siena upside-down and went on to inspire generations of poets and artists, the story reaching its pinnacle in Shakespeare's famous tragedy. In 1340, still reeling from the slaughter of her parents, Giulietta was smuggled into Siena, where she met a young man named Romeo. This key sends Julie on a journey that will change her life forever-a journey into the troubled past of her ancestor Giulietta Tolomei.

But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie's twin sister.

Juliet by Anne Fortier