Hellenga's first novel, unlike his disappointing and overwritten "The Fall of a Sparrow," is a likeable and sweet look at the late coming of age of Margot Harrington, a book conservator. Packed with fascinating detail about books, art and Florentine culture, the book reads like a love letter to Italy.

I had a bit of trouble with the love interest, Sandro. Why would he return to his wife after being separated for 10 years? And the "Sixteen Pleasures," while hinted at broadly, are never explained. This is a cheat, especially since the book gets its title from the provocative erotica.

Still, the heroine is a strong and heady presence and her encounters with the nuns of the convent are nothing short of inspirational. Hellenga wraps it all up in a quick-moving mystery of sorts. This is a fine acheivement for a literary novel.

I read this book on a cross-country, flights-delayed-twice trip across the country this past December. Using historical fact as the basis for this novel, Robert Hellenga weaves a story that draws the reader in immediately. I enjoyed the character development, the detailed and accurate description of the Italian landscape, and the real-life relationships between the characters. Unlike some members of the Menlo Park reader's group, I found the details of book restoration and preservation fascinating. Detailed descriptions of the "pleaures" would, in my opinion, detract from the issues facing the book's protagonist. While the title surely draws readers to the book, the story will keep pages turning well into the wee hours

THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES epitomizes perfection in a novel. This is a small book that uses language which is quiet, and phrasing that is careful and deliberate. The novel tells a story which is distinctive, complex and compelling; the plot is unpredictable right up until the last page. Only after completing THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES does it become obvious how rich and full a novel it actually is.

THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES is set in Florence, definitely one of the most beautiful places on our planet. As the tale unfolds, the reader is instructed about the great flooding of the Arno in 1966, about cloistered religious orders, and about the preservation of rare books.

The "pleasures" of the title allude to a medieval ... manual that is the property of a religious order of nuns, a manual which has been damaged in the flood. The whole novel is reported in the first person by the narrator, a female book restorer from America. She is seduced by everything with which she comes in contact, including the life of a cloistered nun, the Tuscan region itself, and a male art restorer with whom she re-enacts some of the pleasures.

At all times, the language, under the control of author Robert Hellenga, is lyrical. THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES is as close to perfection as a novel gets.