Summer School - Domenica de Rosa

It’s August and the thirteenth century Castello della Luna in Tuscany, owned and run as a writers retreat by Patricia O’Hara, assisted by seventy five year old Aldo (the region’s best chef) and Matt, her teenage son, is getting ready to receive its next seven summer residents.
There’s Cat, the yummy mummy/blogger who knows she just needs to get away from her husband and children to “release the writer I know is inside me”; Anna, Cat’s best friend, has already had a few short stories published. Sam is a burnt out City exec who wonders how hard can it be to write a bestseller and get rich, quick. He just has to find the right genre, and that’s the problem; Sally, a landscape gardener by profession has a huge crush on the tutor, she’s attended all of his Creative Writing courses at the Castello; retired civil servant Mary, wants to learn more about Tuscany and “make some progress with my writing”; also wishing to hone his writing skills is attractive French lawyer Jean-Pierre and finally there’s Mary an American home-maker looking to find closure by writing about her childhood.
Rounding off the list of Castello residents is Jeremy the course tutor, who wrote a bestselling, self- help book many years ago but hasn’t written anything since and Myra who teaches yoga and relaxation techniques to the guests, to get the creative juices flowing.
Mustn’t forget Fabio, the new mysterious handyman, with a secret of his own.
Despite charging each guest three thousand euros for the two week course Patricia is facing mounting maintenance costs and is under pressure from the bank.
Will this be the last summer at the Castello, which she and her ex - husband Sean so lovingly restored? Perhaps Rick, Dorothy’s oil baron husband will be her saviour?
Each day, to take the pressure off the budding writers, Patricia schedules a trip for her guests; visits to Siena and Rome; wine tasting at a neighbouring vineyard or shopping in the village market.
The highlight of the fortnight is the Ferragosto, the Feast of the Assumption, a day of celebration throughout Italy.
In the evening there’s always a special dinner at one of the restaurants in San Severino followed by a grand firework finale, the highlight of the guests’ visit to Tuscany.
I enjoyed reading Summer School, the story moves along well with unexpected visitors, secrets revealed and a scary Castello legend adding to the plot ; the characters are well drawn and the descriptive passages, of Siena especially, evoke the Italy I remember from our visits in the 1990’s.
An easy summer read, it does what it says on the cover.
Perfect for a lazy, hazy day in the sun.
This is my first review for the "Italy in Books Reading Challenge 2011" hosted by Brighton Blogger @ Book After Book.
If you're a fan of Italy, or would just like some great book recommendations, why not take a look at Book After Book, I think it's a blog you'd enjoy.

Linking this review also to the "What We're Reading" party on the 20th of this month, hosted once again by Bonnie.
P.S.
Some other books I've enjoyed recently and would happily recommend are:
Various Flavours of Coffee - Anthony Capella.
Pomegranate Soup - Marsha Mehran
Crazy Ladies- Michael Lee West
and
Future Homemakers of America - Laurie Graham.

Fall On Your Knees - Ann-Marie MacDonald.

This month the What We're Reading gathering is being hosted by Bonnie @ The Boatwright Family blog.
If like me you love to read and are always looking for good book recommendatiions then this is a place you should check out too.
Last week I received a parcel from my dear blogger friend Pondside.
In it were two books which she thought I would enjoy reading.
Fall On You Knees and The Way the Crow Flies by Canadian author Ann-Marie MacDonald.
Fall On You Knees became an International Bestseller shortly after it was published in 1997, winning The Commonwealth Prize For Best First Fiction, The CAA Harlequin Literary Award for Fiction and the Dartmouth Award.
It was also shortlisted for several other prestigious awards, including the British Orange Prize for Best Novel by a woman writer. Oprah Winfrey picked it for her Book Club.
The question I’m asking myself is……………how did I not know about this book before receiving it from Pondside?
Fall On Your Knees is undoubtedly THE best book that I have read in many a long year, and I do read a lot of books.
I literally devoured this book, inhaling every page, and spent three afternoons when I could have been working in the potager, cooking, cleaning or blogging, reading this towering epic of a novel. (Mr B said I hadn’t been this quiet in ages!)
The story is a familiar one…………… a family.
Its secrets, its memories and its history.
Sisters, fathers, mothers, children.
Each character has a story to tell.
Some of them begin with such promise that you can’t bear it when their journey is cut short, either through their own destructive behaviour or that of a family member.
Others overcome adversity to find love, shelter and safety elsewhere, at least for a while.
Set in the Cape Breton town of New Waterford the compelling saga begins at the closing of the 19th century with James Piper, his Lebanese wife Materia and their daughters.
First born Kathleen, destined to become a world famous Opera singer.
Mercedes - never without her opal rosary and devoted to her sister, Frances.
Frances - who knew she was the bad Piper sister even at five years of age.
The journey ends in NYC in the 1960’s with the last of the Piper girls - Lily.
The San Francisco Chronicle describes Fall On Your Knees as…
"An old fashioned epic full of plot twists. The story leaps gracefully across generations, national borders, and cultural standards regarding race, class and sexual orientation”.
The London Times review had this to say…………..
"The uniqueness of MacDonald’s voice, and of her approach, lies in her ability to distill."
All I can add is that if you don’t read any other book this year, you have to read Fall On Your Knees!

A Gathering Light - Jennifer Donnelly.

A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly.
This Sunday I'm joining Ricki at Art@Home for the monthly
 "What We're Reading" party.


I really enjoyed this novel when I read it earlier in the year, it wasn't until I'd finished it that I discovered that it was based on a true story.
A Gathering Light is a wonderful coming of age story.
The year is 1906, the place upstate New York and sixteen year old Mattie Gokay is doing her very best to hold her family together since her mother passed away.
Her elder brother ran away from home after a terrible, unexplained fight with their father and so, as the next eldest, her days are spent helping run the family farm, milking cows, cooking, cleaning and looking after her younger siblings whilst struggling to find enough time in the day to study for her high school diploma.
Her passion is writing and when she can she devours the books of Jane Austen, the Brontes and Edith Wharton amongst others.
To earn more money she takes a job as a maid at the Hotel on Big Moose Lake, all the while she is constantly trying to decide whether to follow her dream to attend University in NYC, as her teacher Miss Wilcox constantly encourages her to, or stay close to her family marry and raise a family of her own.
One fateful day she is entrusted with some letters by a young woman, Grace Brown, who asks her to burn them in the hotel furnace.
The subsequent murder of Grace Brown and Matties involvement in bringing the murderer to justice, brought about by reading not burning the letters, will change her life forever.
Marks out of 10 for this book - 5, would recommend as an easy holiday read .