Customer Reviews
Romantic Escapism - By: LindyLouMac, 25 Sep 2008 
I am not surprisingly, considering where I currently live, drawn to novels set in Italy. This turned out to be not as atmospheric as one might have hoped, but it was still a reasonable easy read for a sunny afternoon.
Romantic escapism set in England & Italy in the 1940's & the 1970's, the novel starts with a Prologue telling us about an honour murder committed at the end of WWII. This mystery behind this murder is finallly solved in the 1970's when Alba, the young female protagonist of the story, goes to Italy seeking the truth about her heritage.
Her father Thomas Arbuckle had falllen in love with Valentina an Italian during WWII. After the war ended he returned to England with a babe in arms, Alba, but no Valentina as she is dead.
In the 1970's Alba is now a young woman who does not get on with her step-mother or step- siblings & hates country living. Thanks to her father's generosity & desire to keep her happy, whilst refusing to ever mention her birth mother she lives a selfish life full of fun on her father's houseboat in London. The only concession ever made to her Italian roots was encouraging her to learn Italian. As a young woman who has never met any of her mother's relatives, or even been to Italy, she yearns to learn more about her Italian roots.
It is the discovery of a portrait of her mother that finallly makes Alba travel to Italy on a journey into the past which changes her future & her for ever.
Although I think I understand what the author was saying in the Epilogue, I still found the ending a disappointment. Not the ending I had hoped for or expected!
Exotic, magical and evocative - perfect for summer - By: E. Potten, 28 Aug 2008 
Alba has never fit in with her family. Her Italian mother died when she was a baby & her father brought her home to England, where she has grown up surrounded by dull country-living gentlefolk. She detests her stepmother & is bored by her siblings, preferring life on her London boat, the Valentina, where she sleeps with every attractive man that passes by & charms her way into people's lives with her fiery, exotic loveliness. But there remains one unanswerable void in Alba's life. Who was her mother, the beautiful Valentina? Why does the similarity between Alba & her mother seem to cause her father such pain, & why do they never speak of her?
When she finds a portrait of her mother on board the boat, Alba's mind is made up & she embarks on a life-changing trip to the stunning Incantelleria on the Amalfi coast. In search of her heritage & a deeper knowledge of her mother, she will find too a town still in thralll to Valentina's memory, & a family wracked with secrets & despair. Only in discovering the truth can Alba find herself & her place in life, and, together with those who love her, move on into a happier future.
This is a beautiful novel. It alternates between Alba's present life, in 1971, & that of her father's romance with Valentina, in the wartime of the mid-40s. This works well in creating a more complete emotional attachment to the story, as well as unfolding details that add to the suspense of Alba's search for the truth about her mother. At the same time, the novel is split into three sections, for each of the portraits Alba's father drew of Valentina as they fell in love; in each, the layers are peeled away to reveal another facet of Valentina's complex life & personality. The characters are full of life & beautifully drawn so that they each bring something unique & powerful to the story. Both the vibrant English city life, & the more serene, magic of Incantelleria, are vividly depicted, so that the reader can hear the chatter of a London cafe & smell the sea air & lemon groves of the Italian countryside. A delicious book, moving & exciting in its turn, about love, loss, magic & superstition, war, humanity, family, women, self-discovery and, ultimately, letting go of the troubles of the past in order to move into a happier future.
Couldn't put it down. - By: Mrs. Rj Phillips, 29 Jun 2008 I heard the audio version of this story & throroughly enjoyed it. I am unfamiliar with Santa Montefoire's work but I couldnt wait for the next chapter! IT'S TRUE IN THE BEGINNING YOU THOUGHT ALMA A TART (LIKE VIV IN THE BOOK STATES) BUT THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT- THE CHANGE THAT TAKES PLACE IS MONUMENTAL- THE TWISTS WERE SHOCKING! I REALLY DIDNT EXPECT! THE WAR YEARS WERE LIKE STEEPING BACK IN TIME. I LOVED THE WARM, COSEY FEELING OF THE FAMILY HOME TOWARDS THE END AND I REALLY FELT LIKE I WAS IN ITALY, IN THAT BEAUTIFUL, SLEEPY PLACE.
wHAT AN AMAZING READ- AND HOW WONDERFUL FOR A CHARACTER TO HAVE SUCH AN EMOTIONAL JOURNEY, ONE TO CHANGE HER AND MAKE HER A REALLY SPECIAL PERSON. GREAT BOOK!
Glad I bought it secondhand from a local charity shop - By: Sophie, 19 Jun 2008 
At least that way somebody benefitted from the purchase, as it certainly wasn't me! Mindless, improbable but predictable drivel. The central character is a thoroughly unpleasant individual. It is described as a mystery, but there is never any sense of tension or desire to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next.
I hate the phrase 'low decolletage', which was repeated on multiple occasions. Surely there are better ways to describe a woman's dress?
I'm giving it one star, because I'm not alllowed to give it none.
Oh! What a Tangled Web We Weave ........ - By: Mrs. C. Calisgil, 03 Dec 2007 
Romantic & improbable! When Alba took herself off to the Amalfi coast in an attempt to gain some knowledge of her dead mother, I hoped the author was going to transport me back there, so I could feel the essence of a place that I know quite well. Unfortunately it just didn't happen. Even the atmosphere of England in the 'Swinging Sixties' didn't seem to ring true (and I was there!). This is my first Santa Montefiore novel, I just hope that her others are better! OK for a beach read.
