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The Lover’s Guide To Rome – Mark Lamprell (2016)

 

American Alice is not sure what she wants with her life or if she really loves her fiance Daniel. Meg and Alec have been married for twenty years but lately things between them haven’t been that good. Constance and her sister-in-law Lizzie are grieving the death of her husband Henry. And they are all visiting Rome. Alice is in Rome hoping to find inspiration for her sculpture class but her encounter with a group of British boys on holiday distracts her. Meg and Alec are looking for a blue tile for their house in California. And Lizzie and Constance want to scatter Henry’s ashes over the Roman river. This novel is a love letter to Rome. The narrator (who, by the way, is a spirit that has been living in Rome for thousands of years) gives a portray of the Italian capital with evocative descriptions and a brief history of the city. But the narration is not engaging or captivating and the characters are somewhat tedious and annoying, especially Meg with her insane obsession for a tile. (NP)

Rating 6/10
 
 

Australian screenwriter Mark Lamprell's novel The Lovers' Guide to Rome is being touted as One Day meets Roman Holiday. The summary says: "This is the place where passions are aroused, senses inflamed, and lovers fall into each other's arms. It all appears to unfold like magic - but I will tell you what really happens. Rome - glorious, eternal, intoxicating. Could there be a better place on earth to fall in love?
Young artist Alice has come to Rome for adventure before settling down with her safe boyfriend. But when fate intervenes to show her there really is such a thing as love at first sight, will she find the courage to follow her heart? Meg and Alec fell in love in Rome many years before and have returned to rekindle their amore, but have they left it too late? Connie and Lizzie are in Rome to scatter the ashes of Connie's beloved husband Henry, who's also Lizzie's brother. But Lizzie doesn't know the real story of how Connie and Henry met there decades before, nor what long-hidden secrets lie waiting to be unearthed. And what of Rome itself? It turns out that the Eternal City has secrets only lovers can glimpse. The magic of Rome is also the magic of the human heart." The Lovers' Guide to Rome is out in April 2016.

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