Publication Date: May 19, 2026

When I was entering college, there were two things I’d always wanted—either become a writer or an archeologist. Unfortunately, the college (now a university) I attended did not offer a degree in archaeology. Also unfortunately, my self-esteem was so low that I was terrified if I majored in something writing-related, I would find out I couldn’t write (this despite the fact I had been writing stories since I was a child and had even published a newspaper article). I ended up with degrees in Geology and German. But my first job out of college was as a staff writer for a daily newspaper AND I have had the opportunity to work on numerous archeological digs since then.

So, the fact that this book had to deal with archaeology was a huge draw. Plus an archaeological dig in Italy’s Alps involving an ancient villa probably once owned by Melania the Younger (If I remember correctly. She is the Melania who moved to her villa and eventually tried to sell off all her property and slaves in order to give the money to the poor. She and her grandmother, Melania the Elder were early Christians involved with the desert monks and St. Augustine among others.

In other words—lots of draws for me. This is Lemle’s first novel and I truly enjoyed it. Yes, there is a lot of technical info, but that added to my enjoyment. I liked the alternating timelines—Lena’s memories of the dig at the villa which she worked at while attending Columbia and Lena currently working on a case in which Italy wants a looted artifact returned.

In addition, there is romance as well as suspense built around the involvement of ’Ndragheta, the Calabrian crime syndicate.

Natalie Lemle

GoodReads says:

[Note: Seems like something is missing in this sentence. [assists on an … . The Italian …] Successful trusts and estates attorney Lena Connolly is asked by a colleague to assist on an Italian government claims an artifact was looted and sold to a museum illegally and is seeking repatriation. The object in question is a cup made of dichroic glass, which would have been rare even in Ancient Rome, let alone thousands of years later.

Lena has done everything she can to put the study abroad summer she spent on an archaeological dig in the Italian Alps behind her. Her dreams of being an archaeologist shattered when her mentor Cyrille disappeared and her enigmatic boyfriend Giamma went dark, but with this new case, the past comes roaring back.

Told in alternating timelines, Artifacts follows young Lena as she falls in love with both archaeology and Giamma on the streets of Torino while her adult self pieces together what truly happened on the dig, now a fully restored Roman villa with World Heritage status. The dichroic cup, Lena discovers, may have been taken from the very site she helped unearth.

Powerful and exuberant, Natalie Lemle’s Artifacts brings readers behind the museum glass and asks questions about cultural heritage and the historical preservation of our shared sense of humanity.