Loretta Bianchi’s family runs the Hotel Il Cuore in Venice, and guests come from far and wide to taste her infamous restaurant menu.
Law graduate Elena is originally from Venice and has returned for her father’s funeral but her Australian husband Christian isn’t as charming behind closed doors.
Americans Gayle and Mike were keen to get away for a European Christmas but their religious adherence has led to a fracture in their family.
Food writer Sophie has arrived to write an article about Loretta but is soon pitching in in the kitchen.
Set over the 12 days of Christmas amid the backdrop of protests about Venice sinking due to climate change and too many tourists, this was an engrossing story packed with drama and with characters you really care for. I appreciated that the author did not shy away from numerous hard-hitting issues, which made it all the more powerful. With its evocative Italian setting, all I can say is “magnifico”.
This is the multi-generational story of one family. There is hippie Jess and her husband who is suffering Parkinson’s and PTSD; their daughter Nirvana (otherwise known as Jamie) and her daughter, CJ.
The author has created characters of all ages that we fall in love with, who are relatable and real. We travel back in time to the Vietnam war and the agony of Jess sending her love away to fight when it is everything she’s opposed to; we witness the trauma experienced by Jamie when her beloved doesn’t want the same life as her and she needs to go it alone, and how this makes her the person she becomes. Then there is 17-year-old CJ who experiences her first love with traumatic consequences.
It’s about love, loss, complying and the messiness of life. Tess is skilled at capturing emotion perfectly. It’s touching, heart-warming and heartbreaking all at the same time. An absolute joy. (LF)
Mel, a GP, lives with her anaesthetist husband, Adam, and their two children in an exclusive Perth suburb. When she boards a flight to Melbourne for a girls' weekend, the last thing she expects is to feel an overwhelming attraction to another passenger as soon as she locks eyes with him. Not only is physiotherapist Matt nine years her junior, he is also engaged and lives on the other side of the country. But as the pair connect on far more than just a physical level, they have to decide are they willing to put everything on the line for one another. Full of raw emotion and confronting issues, this well-crafted debut told from both perspectives will intrigue readers, right up to its unpredictable ending.
