Gwendolyn Womack

The Fortune Teller is the story of Semele, an antiques translator and assessor who has been sent to appraise a manuscript collection to prepare for auction. Semele however whilst translating the manuscript discovers her name mentioned in the script which is supposedly from the age of Cleopatra. The premise sounds intriguing, but for me the book is disappointing. The events throughout history are interesting to note, as was the history of tarot cards. but the story itself is farfetched , and the writing, colourless. Semele, who is supposedly an educated professional in her work, seemed to me , shallow, petulant and self absorbed, in fact none of the other characters had much depth. I kept reading though, to see how things ended.… (mere)