Book info

• Title An Italian Summer
• Author Fanny Blake
• Year 2018
• Genre Contemporary

Sandy is in her fifties, and at a crossroads in her life: she's a teacher and respected by her pupils, but she feels she is being sidelined in favour of younger colleagues. So when her mother dies, leaving her a sealed envelope addressed to an unknown woman living in Naples, Sandy decides to head to Italy to resolve the mystery by delivering the letter herself. She books herself on to a small sightseeing trip from Rome to Naples and the Amalfi Coast, hoping to meet some like-minded people along the way. Who is the mysterious woman she is searching for? And will Sandy find friendship, or even love, along the way...?

Thoughts

This book features such a detailed journey of a woman’s journey to find herself after a significant period of grief, as well as some unknown family history that travels across the continent. I quite liked going on the journey with Sandy, although it felt like there were lots of moments that were detailed as though they were going to turn into something, and then they didn’t. Maybe like real life?

I liked travelling along this adventure but at the same time, I really didn’t grow to like many of the characters that came on the holiday trip - they all seemed pretty antagonistic, for people who were supposed to be enjoying themselves.

Rating: 3 / 5