Victoria Grey Donovan grew up on the South Side of Milwaukee. The only child of William (Will) Donovan and Maureen Grey Donovan, she was the proverbial fish-out-of-water as a third generation Irish child in an originally Polish-Bohemian neighborhood that increasingly gave way to new arrivals from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Laos. Her parents owned a small neighborhood store, specializing in a mix of grocery and bakery items. She attended St. Wenceslaus, a local coed K-8 school and Catholic parish that closed due to parish merger, shortly after her attendance. When faced with the difficulty of choosing a Catholic high school, she stumbled upon a pamphlet about a study abroad program in a school for girls in Varania, a tiny country located where Spain and Italy intersect. She thought she’d take a chance on it because she wasn’t at all sure if St. Joan Antida or Divine Savior Holy Angels would be better, and since the closest high school, Notre Dame High School, was on the closure list, too, she figured it would just be easier to put the decision off for at least another year.
Victoria was used to being treated as “a little different” from her Spanish-speaking and Laotian neighbors, but being the only American in a small boarding school of (she later found) wealthy, ultra-religious Catholic girls was a definite challenge. Fortunately, Alessandra D’nofrio, one of the most popular girls, was her roommate, and became her best friend. By the end of the first year, Victoria was writing to her parents that she did not want to go home. Her parents’ business (they owned a local grocery/candy/baked goods/deli store) was not going particularly well, so they told her she may as well stay over the summer, and they could meet at the break over the Christmas holidays and decide whether she would stay beyond her second year.
A few weeks before the Christmas holiday, Victoria was taking her final term exams and learned that her parents wouldn’t be able to host her at Christmas time. She was disappointed, but finished her tests, at which point the headmistress told her that it was because they had died after a failed robbery at the store had turned violent. As an only child of only children, Victoria worried she had nowhere to go, but Alessandra’s parents stepped forward and offered to pay her tuition and be her guardians until and unless another arrangement could be made. Victoria was surprised, as Varanians aren't particularly known for having that sort of Midwest-style "we all help each other out" attitude (well they WERE, but not to foreigners), but as she didn’t know where else she could do, she accepted and followed the family home for the holidays.
It was at this point she learned why Alessandra was popular, but also kind of feared by the girls at school. Alessandra was the youngest daughter of the reigning monarch, Alessandro D’nofrio and had told the girls that they were never to tell Victoria about who she was so that Alessandra could finally have a friend who was a real friend. Victoria’s life, which was already changing simply by attending the school, changed completely as she became the ward of the royal family. She and Alessandra went to college together, and Victoria studied a mixture of subjects, but primarily history and literature, and became increasingly fluent in Spanish, Italian, the primary languages in Varania, in addition to French, though she was strongest by far in Spanish, since she'd grown up hearing it in the neighborhood.
When she graduated from university in Varania, she did not know what to do next. The family suggested she try out espionage, since she had a lot of skills that would be helpful in that area, so she studied with the “spy school” in Varania, and learned a bit more about investigative work. Around this time Eleanora, the eldest daughter of the king, was visiting with a cousin of his in a place called Morada. She got herself into, as the king put it “some kind of trouble” with a man there, and once he managed to extract her from Varania, he asked that Victoria head there and make certain the man involved did not spread malicious rumors about the Crown Princess. Victoria did not feel as though she HAD any skill in espionage, but did what she was asked.
When she arrived in Varania, she found it difficult to keep up with her mission. Showing an exquisite job in “anonymity,” she gave her first and middle name to island officials figuring that lobbing off her surname would be sufficient. She quickly found the man involved and followed him around. He clearly knew why she had come and treated her as a pest. The man involved, Victoria found, was most likely crazy, but not someone to worry about one way or another. Before long, she found herself immersed in island life, running around with some great new friends. She soon didn’t want to leave. Before long, she found she could build her own property on the island and worked to have her own place, separate from her adopted family, in a place where being the king’s adopted daughter wouldn’t matter.
After a particularly unpleasant breakup with yet another island suitor, she went back to Varania for a visit. At this point, she was re-introduced to an older man from the foreign service, specifically, he served in espionage. The king recognized that Victoria understood the theory of espionage but clearly had no idea how to put it into action, so he figured she would understand a person like William better than many could. The king thought it would be wonderful if they would marry and he, believing firmly in the power of arranged marriage, especially after the incident with Eleanora (who, by now, had settled down and was married to a man he’d suggested and was living quite happily), he did not want to take chances with Victoria. She agreed to marry the man forty years her senior later that year.
While she and William got along well, his work kept him away, so she made frequent trips to Varania to “maintain her property.” She was visiting Varania, when she learned William had disappeared during a mission and “turned up” dead, a constant risk, especially since he was getting to be too old to be doing missions any more. She had been fond of him, but never really got to know him, so she was sad, but not overwhelmed by his loss. It was something that was likely inevitable.
After that, she got the king to agree not to worry about her love life, and now she lives in both countries: Morada and Varania, and decides her own destiny. She generally likes being a widow, as it gives her the power to say she experienced marriage and the wisdom to not have to run out and do everything in her power to marry again. But as a total of her life experiences, she sounds unusually focused and driven, even “bitchy” to those who don’t know her well, because she does not have time for frivolity. Life on Morada can be difficult for Victoria because many came to the island for a vacation, and she came first to work, and second to find herself. As a result, she does not have time for frivolity…except when she lets herself, and rubs people the wrong way. That said, she can be distracted from her work for those who are patient with her and understand her.
Victoria Grey Donovan grew up on the South Side of Milwaukee. The only child of William (Will) Donovan and Maureen Grey Donovan, she was the proverbial fish-out-of-water as a third generation Irish child in an originally Polish-Bohemian neighborhood that increasingly gave way to new arrivals from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Laos. Her parents owned a small neighborhood store, specializing in a mix of grocery and bakery items. She attended St. Wenceslaus, a local coed K-8 school and Catholic parish that closed due to parish merger, shortly after her attendance. When faced with the difficulty of choosing a Catholic high school, she stumbled upon a pamphlet about a study abroad program in a school for girls in Varania, a tiny country located where Spain and Italy intersect. She thought she’d take a chance on it because she wasn’t at all sure if St. Joan Antida or Divine Savior Holy Angels would be better, and since the closest high school, Notre Dame High School, was on the closure list, too, she figured it would just be easier to put the decision off for at least another year.
Victoria was used to being treated as “a little different” from her Spanish-speaking and Laotian neighbors, but being the only American in a small boarding school of (she later found) wealthy, ultra-religious Catholic girls was a definite challenge. Fortunately, Alessandra D’nofrio, one of the most popular girls, was her roommate, and became her best friend. By the end of the first year, Victoria was writing to her parents that she did not want to go home. Her parents’ business was not going particularly well, so they told her she may as well stay over the summer, and they could meet at the break over the Christmas holidays and decide whether she would stay beyond her second year.
A few weeks before the Christmas holiday, Victoria was taking her final term exams and learned that her parents wouldn’t be able to host her at Christmas time. She was disappointed, but finished her tests, at which point the headmistress told her that it was because they had died after a failed robbery at the store had turned violent. As an only child of only children, Victoria worried she had nowhere to go, but Alessandra’s parents stepped forward and offered to pay her tuition and be her guardians until and unless another arrangement could be made. Victoria considered the whole thing to be fairly irregular, but as she didn’t know where else she could do, she accepted and followed the family home for the holidays.
It was at this point she learned why Alessandra was popular, but also kind of feared by the girls at school. Alessandra was the youngest daughter of the reigning monarch, Alessandro D’nofrio and had told the girls that they were never to tell Victoria about who she was so that Alessandra could finally have a friend who was a real friend. Victoria’s life, which was already changing simply by attending the school, changed completely as she became the ward of the royal family. She and Alessandra went to college together, and Victoria studied a mixture of subjects, but primarily history and literature, and became increasingly fluent in Spanish, Italian, the primary languages in Varania, in addition to French.
When she graduated from university in Varania, she did not know what to do next. The family suggested she try out espionage, since she had a lot of skills that would be helpful in that area, so she studied with the “spy school” in Varania, and learned a bit more about investigative work. Around this time Eleanora, the eldest daughter of the king, was visiting with a cousin of his in a place called Morada. She got herself into, as the king put it “some kind of trouble” with a man there, and once he managed to extract her from Varania, he asked that Victoria head there and make certain the man involved did not spread malicious rumors about the Crown Princess. Victoria did not feel as though she HAD any skill in espionage, but did what she was asked.
When she arrived in Varania, she found it difficult to keep up with her mission. The man involved was clearly crazy, but not someone to worry about one way or another. Before long, she found herself immersed in island life, running around with some great new friends. She soon didn’t want to leave. Before long, she found she could build her own property on the island and worked to have her own place, separate from her adopted family, in a place where being the king’s adopted daughter wouldn’t matter.
After a particularly unpleasant breakup with yet another island suitor, she went back to Varania for a visit. At this point, she was re-introduced to an older man from the foreign service, specifically, he served in espionage. The king thought it would be wonderful if they would marry and he, believing firmly in the power of arranged marriage, especially after the incident with Eleanora (who, by now, had settled down and was married to a man he’d suggested and was living quite happily), he did not want to take chances with Victoria. She agreed to marry the man forty years her senior later that year. While she and William got along well, his work kept him away, so she made frequent trips to Varania to “maintain her property.” She was visiting Varania, when she learned William had disappeared during a mission and “turned up” dead, a constant risk, especially since he was getting to be too old to be doing missions any more. She had been fond of him, but never really got to know him, so she was sad, but not overwhelmed by his loss. It was something that was likely inevitable. After that, she got the king to agree not to worry about her love life, and now she lives in both countries: Morada and Varania, and decides her own destiny. She generally likes being a widow, as it gives her the power to say she experienced marriage and the wisdom to not have to run out and do everything in her power to marry again. But as a total of her life experiences, she sounds unusually focused and driven, even “bitchy” to those who don’t know her well, because she does not have time for frivolity. Life on Morada can be difficult for Victoria because many came to the island for a vacation, and she came first to work, and second to find herself. As a result, she does not have time for frivolity…except when she lets herself, and rubs people the wrong way. That said, she can be distracted from her work for those who are patient with her and understand her.
Victoria was used to being treated as “a little different” from her Spanish-speaking and Laotian neighbors, but being the only American in a small boarding school of (she later found) wealthy, ultra-religious Catholic girls was a definite challenge. Fortunately, Alessandra D’nofrio, one of the most popular girls, was her roommate, and became her best friend. By the end of the first year, Victoria was writing to her parents that she did not want to go home. Her parents’ business (they owned a local grocery/candy/baked goods/deli store) was not going particularly well, so they told her she may as well stay over the summer, and they could meet at the break over the Christmas holidays and decide whether she would stay beyond her second year.
A few weeks before the Christmas holiday, Victoria was taking her final term exams and learned that her parents wouldn’t be able to host her at Christmas time. She was disappointed, but finished her tests, at which point the headmistress told her that it was because they had died after a failed robbery at the store had turned violent. As an only child of only children, Victoria worried she had nowhere to go, but Alessandra’s parents stepped forward and offered to pay her tuition and be her guardians until and unless another arrangement could be made. Victoria was surprised, as Varanians aren't particularly known for having that sort of Midwest-style "we all help each other out" attitude (well they WERE, but not to foreigners), but as she didn’t know where else she could do, she accepted and followed the family home for the holidays.
It was at this point she learned why Alessandra was popular, but also kind of feared by the girls at school. Alessandra was the youngest daughter of the reigning monarch, Alessandro D’nofrio and had told the girls that they were never to tell Victoria about who she was so that Alessandra could finally have a friend who was a real friend. Victoria’s life, which was already changing simply by attending the school, changed completely as she became the ward of the royal family. She and Alessandra went to college together, and Victoria studied a mixture of subjects, but primarily history and literature, and became increasingly fluent in Spanish, Italian, the primary languages in Varania, in addition to French, though she was strongest by far in Spanish, since she'd grown up hearing it in the neighborhood.
When she graduated from university in Varania, she did not know what to do next. The family suggested she try out espionage, since she had a lot of skills that would be helpful in that area, so she studied with the “spy school” in Varania, and learned a bit more about investigative work. Around this time Eleanora, the eldest daughter of the king, was visiting with a cousin of his in a place called Morada. She got herself into, as the king put it “some kind of trouble” with a man there, and once he managed to extract her from Varania, he asked that Victoria head there and make certain the man involved did not spread malicious rumors about the Crown Princess. Victoria did not feel as though she HAD any skill in espionage, but did what she was asked.
When she arrived in Varania, she found it difficult to keep up with her mission. Showing an exquisite job in “anonymity,” she gave her first and middle name to island officials figuring that lobbing off her surname would be sufficient. She quickly found the man involved and followed him around. He clearly knew why she had come and treated her as a pest. The man involved, Victoria found, was most likely crazy, but not someone to worry about one way or another. Before long, she found herself immersed in island life, running around with some great new friends. She soon didn’t want to leave. Before long, she found she could build her own property on the island and worked to have her own place, separate from her adopted family, in a place where being the king’s adopted daughter wouldn’t matter.
After a particularly unpleasant breakup with yet another island suitor, she went back to Varania for a visit. At this point, she was re-introduced to an older man from the foreign service, specifically, he served in espionage. The king recognized that Victoria understood the theory of espionage but clearly had no idea how to put it into action, so he figured she would understand a person like William better than many could. The king thought it would be wonderful if they would marry and he, believing firmly in the power of arranged marriage, especially after the incident with Eleanora (who, by now, had settled down and was married to a man he’d suggested and was living quite happily), he did not want to take chances with Victoria. She agreed to marry the man forty years her senior later that year.
While she and William got along well, his work kept him away, so she made frequent trips to Varania to “maintain her property.” She was visiting Varania, when she learned William had disappeared during a mission and “turned up” dead, a constant risk, especially since he was getting to be too old to be doing missions any more. She had been fond of him, but never really got to know him, so she was sad, but not overwhelmed by his loss. It was something that was likely inevitable.
After that, she got the king to agree not to worry about her love life, and now she lives in both countries: Morada and Varania, and decides her own destiny. She generally likes being a widow, as it gives her the power to say she experienced marriage and the wisdom to not have to run out and do everything in her power to marry again. But as a total of her life experiences, she sounds unusually focused and driven, even “bitchy” to those who don’t know her well, because she does not have time for frivolity. Life on Morada can be difficult for Victoria because many came to the island for a vacation, and she came first to work, and second to find herself. As a result, she does not have time for frivolity…except when she lets herself, and rubs people the wrong way. That said, she can be distracted from her work for those who are patient with her and understand her.
Victoria Grey Donovan grew up on the South Side of Milwaukee. The only child of William (Will) Donovan and Maureen Grey Donovan, she was the proverbial fish-out-of-water as a third generation Irish child in an originally Polish-Bohemian neighborhood that increasingly gave way to new arrivals from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Laos. Her parents owned a small neighborhood store, specializing in a mix of grocery and bakery items. She attended St. Wenceslaus, a local coed K-8 school and Catholic parish that closed due to parish merger, shortly after her attendance. When faced with the difficulty of choosing a Catholic high school, she stumbled upon a pamphlet about a study abroad program in a school for girls in Varania, a tiny country located where Spain and Italy intersect. She thought she’d take a chance on it because she wasn’t at all sure if St. Joan Antida or Divine Savior Holy Angels would be better, and since the closest high school, Notre Dame High School, was on the closure list, too, she figured it would just be easier to put the decision off for at least another year.
Victoria was used to being treated as “a little different” from her Spanish-speaking and Laotian neighbors, but being the only American in a small boarding school of (she later found) wealthy, ultra-religious Catholic girls was a definite challenge. Fortunately, Alessandra D’nofrio, one of the most popular girls, was her roommate, and became her best friend. By the end of the first year, Victoria was writing to her parents that she did not want to go home. Her parents’ business was not going particularly well, so they told her she may as well stay over the summer, and they could meet at the break over the Christmas holidays and decide whether she would stay beyond her second year.
A few weeks before the Christmas holiday, Victoria was taking her final term exams and learned that her parents wouldn’t be able to host her at Christmas time. She was disappointed, but finished her tests, at which point the headmistress told her that it was because they had died after a failed robbery at the store had turned violent. As an only child of only children, Victoria worried she had nowhere to go, but Alessandra’s parents stepped forward and offered to pay her tuition and be her guardians until and unless another arrangement could be made. Victoria considered the whole thing to be fairly irregular, but as she didn’t know where else she could do, she accepted and followed the family home for the holidays.
It was at this point she learned why Alessandra was popular, but also kind of feared by the girls at school. Alessandra was the youngest daughter of the reigning monarch, Alessandro D’nofrio and had told the girls that they were never to tell Victoria about who she was so that Alessandra could finally have a friend who was a real friend. Victoria’s life, which was already changing simply by attending the school, changed completely as she became the ward of the royal family. She and Alessandra went to college together, and Victoria studied a mixture of subjects, but primarily history and literature, and became increasingly fluent in Spanish, Italian, the primary languages in Varania, in addition to French.
When she graduated from university in Varania, she did not know what to do next. The family suggested she try out espionage, since she had a lot of skills that would be helpful in that area, so she studied with the “spy school” in Varania, and learned a bit more about investigative work. Around this time Eleanora, the eldest daughter of the king, was visiting with a cousin of his in a place called Morada. She got herself into, as the king put it “some kind of trouble” with a man there, and once he managed to extract her from Varania, he asked that Victoria head there and make certain the man involved did not spread malicious rumors about the Crown Princess. Victoria did not feel as though she HAD any skill in espionage, but did what she was asked.
When she arrived in Varania, she found it difficult to keep up with her mission. The man involved was clearly crazy, but not someone to worry about one way or another. Before long, she found herself immersed in island life, running around with some great new friends. She soon didn’t want to leave. Before long, she found she could build her own property on the island and worked to have her own place, separate from her adopted family, in a place where being the king’s adopted daughter wouldn’t matter.
After a particularly unpleasant breakup with yet another island suitor, she went back to Varania for a visit. At this point, she was re-introduced to an older man from the foreign service, specifically, he served in espionage. The king thought it would be wonderful if they would marry and he, believing firmly in the power of arranged marriage, especially after the incident with Eleanora (who, by now, had settled down and was married to a man he’d suggested and was living quite happily), he did not want to take chances with Victoria. She agreed to marry the man forty years her senior later that year.
While she and William got along well, his work kept him away, so she made frequent trips to Varania to “maintain her property.” She was visiting Varania, when she learned William had disappeared during a mission and “turned up” dead, a constant risk, especially since he was getting to be too old to be doing missions any more. She had been fond of him, but never really got to know him, so she was sad, but not overwhelmed by his loss. It was something that was likely inevitable.
After that, she got the king to agree not to worry about her love life, and now she lives in both countries: Morada and Varania, and decides her own destiny. She generally likes being a widow, as it gives her the power to say she experienced marriage and the wisdom to not have to run out and do everything in her power to marry again. But as a total of her life experiences, she sounds unusually focused and driven, even “bitchy” to those who don’t know her well, because she does not have time for frivolity. Life on Morada can be difficult for Victoria because many came to the island for a vacation, and she came first to work, and second to find herself. As a result, she does not have time for frivolity…except when she lets herself, and rubs people the wrong way. That said, she can be distracted from her work for those who are patient with her and understand her.