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Novel set in Southern Italy (Love, Life and Lemons in the sun)

25th August 2017

An Italian Holiday by Maeve Haran, novel set in Southern Italy.

Four women (strangers to each other) get away from it all by accepting a holiday in their mutual friend’s beautiful villa in Italy. A warm, amusing and cheerful novel.

Novel set in southern Italy

Four “older” women are the main characters in this wonderful book:

Claire – a caterer, not only for her business but also for her extended family

Angela – a successful business woman

Sylvie – a flamboyant house designer

Monica – a widow with an overbearing mother

They don’t know each other, but through a mutual friend, grab at the opportunity to escape their everyday lives for a holiday (wrapped up as a business trip) in an idyllic villa in Italy. They assume they will be alone, so are surprised to find each other there, and their different characters cause some amusing clashes.

As their stay lengthens, they discover that the villa staff appear to be up to something, some of their new found Italian friends appear to be not at all as they seem, but most of all they all fall in love with the villa and its ambience. Along the way they begin to like each other.

Lemons and lemon groves are central to the story, as is sunshine, friendship and an appreciation of the simple things in life. Mealtimes are mostly taken on the sunny terrace, and the appreciation of good food (and glasses of Franciacorta sparkling wine) is a recurring theme.

Set initially in London, with some interesting historical details, the story quickly moves to a fictional (I assume) place in Southern Italy. An overall glimpse of customs and ways of life is given, but this is more a book about appreciating differences and opening your eyes to what is around you, than a deep look at the Italian lifestyle.

This is quite a long book (458 pages), but it is an easy and involving read. I felt I got to know the main characters, and certainly fell in love with the villa and its surroundings. There are some wonderful surprises in the book and I enjoyed the positive, often humourous, style of the book.   Lovely!

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We would love to recommend a couple of further reads to transport you to Italy:

Early One Morning by Virigina Baily

A grey dawn in 1943: on a street in Rome, two young women, complete strangers to each other, lock eyes for a single moment.

One of the women, Chiara Ravello, is about to flee the occupied city for the safety of her grandparents’ house in the hills. The other has been herded on to a truck with her husband and their young children, and will shortly be driven off into the darkness.

In that endless-seeming moment, before she has time to think about what she is doing, Chiara makes a decision that changes her life for ever. Loudly claiming the woman’s son as her own nephew, she demands his immediate return; only as the trucks depart does she begin to realize what she has done. She is twenty-seven, single, with a sister who needs her constant care, a hazardous journey ahead of her, and now a child in her charge – a child with no papers who refuses to speak and gives every indication that he will bolt at the first opportunity.

One Summer in Venice by Nicky Pellegrino

Addolorata Martinelli knows she should be happy. She has everything she thought she wanted – her own business, a husband, a child. So why does she feel as if something is missing? Then when her restaurant, Little Italy, is slated by a reviewer, she realises that she’s lost the one thing she thought she could always count on, her love of food.

So Addolorata heads to Venice for a summer alone, aiming to find the ten things that make her happy. Once she’s found them, she’ll construct a new life around her ten things, but will they include her life in London?

 

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