Friday 56 & Book Beginnings: Of Madness and Cures

For Book Beginnings:

"I don't know where my own body begins or ends," said the young girl of Imizmiza. 

- p. 3, The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny

For Friday 56:

The hours of candlelight, encircled by a studious darkness, drew me closer to my intent.

p. 56, , The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny

I won this book in giveaway over at I'd Rather Be Reading at the Beach (yeah, I really would! Thanks Vicki!). I have to admit, it's that gorgeous cover that got me. And when I read the synopsis, I felt it had shades of Tracy Chevalier and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver ... wow! Really am looking forward to this one!

Serious synopsis: Dr. Gabriella Mondini, a strong-willed, young Venetian woman, has followed her father in the path of medicine. She possesses a singleminded passion for the art of physick, even though, in 1590, the male-dominated establishment is reluctant to accept a woman doctor. So when her father disappears on a mysterious journey, Gabriella's own status in the Venetian medical society is threatened. Her father has left clues--beautiful, thoughtful, sometimes torrid, and often enigmatic letters from his travels as he researches his vast encyclopedia, "The Book of Diseases."

After ten years of missing his kindness, insight, and guidance, Gabriella decides to set off on a quest to find him--a daunting journey that will take her through great university cities, centers of medicine, and remote villages across Europe. Despite setbacks, wary strangers, and the menaces of the road, the young doctor bravely follows the clues to her lost father, all while taking notes on maladies and treating the ill to supplement her own work. 

What are you reading?