- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 3050 KB
- Print Length: 270 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1838880100
- Publisher: Bookouture (17 Feb. 2020)
- Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B082BBSXR6
Synopsis
Callie, a lonely small-town waitress, is still reeling from the discovery that she’s adopted when she arrives in Montevino, Italy in search of answers – the keys to the stunning hillside villa she has just inherited clutched tightly in her hand. Inside the rusted gates, and through a large wooden front door dripping with sun-kissed flowers, Callie can’t decide if she’s more astonished by her new home or her first encounter with the mysterious young groundskeeper, Tommaso.
Wandering the villa barefoot at night, Callie finds a diary belonging to a woman named Elisa, wrapped in faded blue ribbon and hidden in her birthmother’s antique wardrobe. Page by page, Callie is swept away by its story of love, passion, heartbreak and betrayal as she reads how Elisa married her childhood sweetheart in secret before fleeing to the woods to join the resistance. They vowed to find each other again when the war was over, but history had other plans.
Callie is certain that her and Elisa’s lives are somehow connected, and that the truth about her family is hidden somewhere within the diary’s crinkled yellow pages. It gives her the courage to start asking questions around the close-knit village until, at long last, she feels her closed-off heart begin to open. Perhaps even enough to let someone in…
But when a devastating betrayal in the final pages of the diary unlocks a heart-breaking secret about who Callie’s mother really is, the chance for a new life shatters in front of her. Can she persuade the locals to forgive her past and accept the truth about her identity?
Review
We may not be able to travel at the moment, or is some cases not even leave the house, but in books we all have the ability to travel to new places, and where better to start the the beautiful Montevino in Italy. On her twenty first birthday Callie receives a present that changes her world. From the age of ten she was brought up in the care system after her parents died in a fire. However, it seems her parents were her adoptive parents and her mother was from the Italian village of Montevino, where Callie has been left a house. Once in Italy, Callie finds herself at Firefly House, her mother’s family home and inside it the diary of Elise, a doctor during the Italian Civil War. With a split timeline, The Italian Villa is a book about family, secrets, lies and the strength of the Stella women in times of adversity.
If I’m looking for an escape I love to read books set in Italy, my spiritual home. Daniela Sacerdoti certainly captures the feel and atmosphere of this beautiful village, and all the characters who live in it. The writing is beautifully descriptive, and Daniela has a wonderful way with words that draws you into the book. The landscape, beautiful flowers, fresh herbs sit alongside the wildlife of the wolves and the deer making the village seem even more magical than it first appears.
The same attention to detail is given to the characters in this book. Callie is only twenty one but has had a lot of heartache in her life; orphaned at ten, with no other family, being in the care system and then having to find out she was adopted. She really shows strength of character, flying to Italy on her own, into the unknown and finding family that may not be so happy to see her. I loved her tenacity, and having the confidence to face life head on; she surely has wisdom beyond her years.
In the late 1930’s into 1940’s Elisa records her life in a diary. She also faces difficulties being the only female at the University studying medicine, a prejudice that also continues after she is qualified. Her diary entries record life during the Civil War, where families were divided politically, the partisans fought the black shirts and people lived in fear. Elise’s story is one of courage, loyalty. love and heartbreak. the perfect juxtaposition to Callie’s story.
The Italian Villa filled my heart with the heat of the Italian sun, the scent of the flowers, the taste of the gorgeous food and the warmth of the Italian people. Callie and Elise maybe separated by many years but the connection between them really came through in this book. Wonderful characters, romance, secrets and a few surprises make this such a captivating and charming read. A perfect Italian escape!
