However, I did struggle with pacing, skimming through filler scenes and connecting with the characters. This, ultimately, hampered my enjoyment level.

There are also beautiful and tragic events and people, where you get a sense of both privilege and wanting…and yearning. I stayed up to finish this beauty, and may add more tomorrow in my review once I’ve had the opportunity to have it sit with me.I loved the Countessa! I thought she was such a fantastic character, so full of life (despite her age), welcoming, friendly and a tad mischievous. Her obvious care towards her guests and her meddling in their lives to increase their happiness, was lovely to read about. Her antics often had me laughing out loud at times, especially when it wasn’t at first clear what she was up to and her devious schemes were gradually revealed. All the characters have been affected by the war in different ways which was fascinating to read about, particularly as in their histories is mentioned a part of the war that i didn’t know much about. All the characters go on a personal journey throughout the book and it was lovely to see how much they had changed towards the end. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2020-06-15 16:05:16 Boxid IA1814624 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier This is a beautiful book with stunning locations Portofino, Liguria, Cinque Terre, Genoa.....I loved soaking in the vibrant feel of each destination. So much so, it felt like a luxurious travel book. I’m already planning a long trip.

It must be nice, Hal thinks, to live in a world in which things are so easy. As though one might merely walk into the office of one of the bigger magazines and demand a job. There had been interviews. But nothing had come of it. And his work for The Tiber has – just about – allowed him to pay his rent, to feed himself. But a year later they are unexpectedly thrown together, after Hal receives an invitation he cannot resist. An Italian Contessa asks him to assist on a trip of a lifetime -- acting as a reporter on a tremendous yacht, skimming its way along the Italian coast toward Cannes film festival, the most famous artists and movie stars of the day gathered to promote a new film. Well,’ Fede says, patiently, ‘you could pretend to be me. I think we do not look all that different.’ I wonder sometimes if I have gone a little mad. The majoun, of which I have become partial, has no doubt not helped. Sometimes when I have taken it I experience hallucinations, in which I am absolutely convinced that the thing I am seeing is real. Sometimes these occur days, even a week, after my last fix of the stuff. At least it doesn’t affect the writing. Perhaps it helps.Well,’ she says, suddenly, ‘you certainly look interesting, all the same. Come, let us find you a drink.’ She turns, and he sees now that the fur stole falls all the way to the ground behind.

Talk about a book that truly takes you to another place. I felt consumed in this story by the detailed descriptions. One of the most beautiful imagery in a book I have ever read! a beautiful society darling from New York. To Hal, flailing in the post-war darkness, she’s a point of light. They’re from different worlds, but both trying and failing to carve out a new life. Hal has been here for five years now. His father, he knows, thinks that he is treading water. If his son is going to do something as trifling as journalism he should at least have continued working for the English broadsheet. And here he is, a freelancer, writing whimsical pieces for a local paper. His mother is more supportive. Rome, after all, is the city of her birth. He learned his Italian from her. Half the stories she read to him as a child were in her mother tongue; the most beautiful language in the world. Now he uses it so regularly that it is beginning to feel like his first language; the English left behind, a part of his old life. Hachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world. Social MediaThis novel is just waiting to be made into a film. It’s easy to ready style belies an intriguing and fascinating plot that is both believable and inspiring.’ Even more interesting. Do you know how I guessed? It is not because of your Italian, I should add – it is almost perfect.’ People do not come to Rome for work. There is always something more that drives them: love, escape, the hope of a new life. Which is it?’ This is more a period piece and locale feel study with some deep characterizations rather than a mystery or criminal aspect. It was good and shows a fine flowing prose form but it was way too slow in spots regardless. I also got too much repetition of continual mood. For a vertiginous moment, he feels that he is floating above it all. Then the ground reforms itself beneath him; he begins to look around. There are palms and shrubs, the smell of the earth after the rain. He gropes for the word for it: petrichor.