Three stars for the story, plus an extra star for originality and outstanding writing. If you like quirky, give this little book a try. It's only 160 pages. It's an odd combination of historical fiction, magical realism, and humor, with some unconventional romantic elements tying it all together.Henri is a cook/soldier for Napoleon Bonaparte. Villanelle is a bi-sexual, web-footed (yes, web-footed) boatman's daughter in Venice. She has some mystical powers and a penchant for gambling. Circumstances eventually bring them together in Russia during the "zero winter," when Napoleon's men are dying of cold and hunger. Adventures and tragedies ensue, which I will leave you to discover on your own. Jeanette Winterson was not yet 30 years old when she wrote this book. With that in mind, I was especially impressed with her wisdom as well as her ability to express it. Wisdom about the idiocy of war, the villainy and egotism of Bonaparte, and especially about love and passion followed by pain mixed with hatred after betrayal."The hate is not only for the once loved, it's for yourself too; how could you ever have loved this?""What is more humiliating than finding the object of your love unworthy?"It's been a while since I read Voltaire's Candide, but I found some loose parallels with that story in The Passion. The questing journey, the lessons learned from strange characters along the way, and Henri's contentment in his garden at the conclusion.Speaking of strange characters, I especially liked Patrick, the priest with the telescopic left eye---de-frocked for using that eye to look at naked women from afar. My one big guffaw from the book came with his explanation of why men should not pray to the Virgin Mary.
