#TFBookClub reads ‘The Italian Teacher’ set in LONDON, NEW YORK CITY, ROME & THE SOUTH OF FRANCE

19th February 2019

#TFBookClub March/April 2019

Our first twelve outings for the #TFBookClub have seen us travel the world, seeing different locations through the eyes of authors:

  • We have so far been #OnLiteraryLocation in SARDINIA with Rosanna Ley’s The Little Theatre By The Sea 
  • We have explored the sense of history in PRAGUE, reading Prague Nights by Benjamin Black
  • We have been on a real adventure to CENTRAL AMERICA with Maile Meloy’s Do Not Become Alarmed 
  • We have been immersed in an intense relationship between two female writers in Exquisite by Sarah Stovell, set in NORTHUMBERLAND and the LAKE DISTRICT,
  • We have met Harriet Steel’s Inspector de Silva in 1930s CEYLON (now SRI LANKA), experiencing Trouble in Nuala
  • We have time-travelled to exotic GRANADA in historic ANDALUCIA SPAIN with Jane Johnson’s Court of Lions
  • We have dived into the beautiful CYCLADES in GREECE with Hannah Fielding’s Aphrodite’s Tears
  • We have returned to CEYLON (now SRI LANKA) with The Sapphire Widow by Dinah Jefferies
  • We have gone west to CORNWALL with One Cornish Summer by Liz Fenwick
  • We travelled to NORWAYSCOTLAND and FRANCE with The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting 
  • We were in wintry WALES with dark crime thriller Halfway by B. E. Jones
  • And most recently we have endured a bitter winter and murder in SWEDEN with Red Snow, another Tuva Moodyson Mystery from author Will Dean

Our latest #TFBookClub outing takes us around the artistic world – to LONDON, NEW YORK CITY, ROME & the SOUTH OF FRANCE – with The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman.

The Costa Award Shortlisted Novel 2018

TFBookClub

Rome, 1955

The artists are gathering together for a photograph. In one of Rome’s historic villas, a party glitters with socialites and patrons. Bear Bavinsky, creator of vast, masculine, meaty canvases, is their god. He is at the centre of the picture. His wife, Natalie, edges out of the shot.

From the side of the room watches little Pinch – their son. At five years old he loves Bear almost as much as he fears him. After Bear abandons their family, Pinch will still worship him, while Natalie faces her own wars with the art world. Trying to live up to his father’s name – one of the twentieth century’s fiercest and most controversial painters – Pinch never quite succeeds. Yet by the end of a career of twists and compromises, he enacts an unexpected rebellion that will leave forever his mark upon the Bear Bavinsky legacy.

What makes an artist? In The Italian Teacher, Tom Rachman displays a nuanced understanding of art and its demons. Moreover, in Pinch he achieves a portrait of vulnerability and frustrated talent that – with his signature humour and humanity ­- challenges the very idea of greatness.

‘Wickedly funny, deeply touching . . . I confess this was the first of Rachman’s novels I’d read but I was so swept away by it that I raced out to buy the other three’ – PATRICK GALE

‘Relentlessly entertaining’ – THE DAILY MAIL

Apply for a copy to read along:

If you would like to apply for a copy to read along with us during March and early April 2019, just leave a COMMENT below and tell us whether you prefer PAPER (UK only) or DIGITAL for world readers (via Netgalley) or EITHER – by midnight 28th February 2019. The first names out of the hat on Friday 1st March 2019 will be sent copies of the book. After that we can all start turning the pages and share our thoughts over the subsequent weeks.

We will be in touch at the beginning of March if you are one of our lucky readers! Don’t forget, applications close midnight, 28th February 2019!

Andrew and Tina for the TripFiction team

Do come and join team TripFiction on Social Media:

Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction)

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Comments

  1. User: Julie Ryan

    Posted on: 06/03/2019 at 10:22 am

    Would love a copy – paper ideally. Sounds just up my street.

    Comment

  2. User: Louise Page

    Posted on: 27/02/2019 at 7:19 am

    This sounds intriguing. I’d love a paper copy if successful please.

    Comment

  3. User: Sara Hill

    Posted on: 26/02/2019 at 5:29 pm

    I would love a paper copy please. i have been to italy and the south of France but have yet to visit America,

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: Anne Allen

      Posted on: 27/02/2019 at 8:48 am

      I would love a paperback copy please

      Comment

  4. User: readerofbooks

    Posted on: 24/02/2019 at 7:04 pm

    Paper please! Had such great titles from TripFiction!

    Comment

  5. User: Helen G

    Posted on: 23/02/2019 at 9:45 pm

    Paper please!

    Comment

  6. User: Helen Ghebrezadik

    Posted on: 23/02/2019 at 9:44 pm

    Interested to get involved. Paper please!

    Comment

  7. User: Denise Price

    Posted on: 23/02/2019 at 4:05 pm

    Sounds like a great book with wonderful locations. Paper please.

    Comment

  8. User: Harriet Steel

    Posted on: 23/02/2019 at 9:35 am

    This looks fun and interesting. I’d love a paper copy, please.

    Comment

  9. User: Irene Wright

    Posted on: 23/02/2019 at 8:42 am

    Paper copy please. Will while away airport time on my next holiday.

    Comment

  10. User: Katia

    Posted on: 23/02/2019 at 7:33 am

    love the idea! Digital please )

    Comment

  11. User: Carole O'Brien

    Posted on: 21/02/2019 at 10:46 pm

    Just came across your website. So excited to read your previous picks. I would love a copy if this month’s book please.
    Digital please

    Comment

  12. User: Tina

    Posted on: 20/02/2019 at 10:05 pm

    Blurb sounds intriguing. Would love to read to see how it all pans out.

    Paper please

    Comment

  13. User: MAUREEN JULIAN

    Posted on: 20/02/2019 at 11:52 am

    Love to read this – paper copy please.

    Comment

  14. User: Judith Learman

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 10:37 pm

    I live in Rome and I would love to read this. I’m not in the UK so it would have to be digital for me please.

    Comment

  15. User: Helen Clayton

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 8:54 pm

    Paper please.

    Comment

  16. User: Lesley Morton

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 8:19 pm

    Set in 4 fabulous locations and a great story line. Sounds excellent.
    Paper please.

    Comment

  17. User: Judy Guffey

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 8:02 pm

    Digital works for me.

    Comment

  18. User: Claire Harris

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 7:04 pm

    Looks an interesting read!
    Paper, please! 🙂

    Comment

  19. User: Penny-sue Wolfe

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 7:02 pm

    Paper please x

    Comment

  20. User: Sarah Boyce

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 7:01 pm

    Paper please, this sounds really good!

    Comment

  21. User: Claire Broomsgrove

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 6:38 pm

    Paper copy please.

    Comment

  22. User: Janine Phillips

    Posted on: 19/02/2019 at 6:09 pm

    Sounds good, paper please x

    Comment