Lead Review

• Book: The Lovers’ Guide to Rome
• Location: Rome
• Author: Mark Lamprell

Review Author: tripfiction

This is a cracking novel, delightfully set in Rome. It is a book that has the TripFiction remit written all over it, there is a hand drawn map at the beginning highlighting starred features of the city, as the characters dip and dive through the lanes and piazze of the bustling city.

“Roma – just when you think you’ve finished with her, you find she’s not finished with you”.

A nod to Alice in Wonderland, six characters descend on the Eternal city, each on a mission, and what a rich mix of missions for sure! Searching to match an Art Nouveau tile of the brightest Prussian Blue of a Roman sky for a home improvement project, the bickering “Twits” (a nod to Roald Dahl) Meg and Alec return to the place where they fell in love. Constance and Lizzie have arrived to scatter the ashes of Constance’s husband, Henry (also Lizzie’s brother) over the Tiber. And artsy Alice, who is escaping an over-bearing family back in the States, is also casting off the shackles of a romance with a mission to find herself. A didactic voice hovers in the wings too, offering a bit of historical insight into the monuments which the characters explore, offering wry overviews and comments on city gems.

Alice hooks up with Gus (I can’t bring myself to call him August, a name he dislikes anyway) and they career around the city on a motorino (check out the Italian cover of the book to the left, it is nothing like a Vespa as I first thought) and end up at St Peter’s. I will leave you find out what happens when they discover the Centro Del Colonnato, suffice it to say, that it is something I will definitely check out when I next visit.

Of course, things do not really go smoothly, but as the story progresses we tail the characters as they grapple with love and theft and mugging and just simple, everyday life in the city. Life in Rome, the author is clear, has its own rhythm and if you acquiesce and allow yourself to be carried along, you will experience the magical nature of of this wonderful city.

I have learned that to fit in to Roman life, one must not have a Cappuccino beyond breakfast (it’s espresso for the rest of the day) and I will have a fit of the vapours if I find myself subjected to un colpo d’aria (a draft of air which can lead to all kinds of illnesses, apparently).

The story did at times wobble, but Mark Lamprell can really write, and his style is easy to read and at times wry and amusing. A great book to prepare for a trip to Rome! And don’t be put off by the English cover – it is misleading, it intimates a bit of a vacuous blousy trip to the city, but it is much more considered than this book jacket would lead you to believe.

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