Why a Booktrail?
1940s: You will feel the Italian sun on your face from the very first page.
The Villa in Italy
What you need to know before your trail
Marvellously atmospheric tale of four strangers summoned to a grand but neglected villa on the Italian coast. Each of them has been named in a will, but not one of them knows their benefactress…
Delia, an opera singer has been robbed of her voice by illness; George, an idealistic scientist can’t face what his skills have created; Marjorie, desperately poor is unable to dislodge her writer’s block; and Lucius whose personal life is in chaos.
While they wait to find out who this mysterious benefactress is, the villa begins to work its seductive magic. With its faded frescoes, overgrown garden and magnificent mediaeval tower, it is unlike anywhere they have been before. Slowly, four characters who have gone to great lengths to hide their troubles find that change – and even hope – is possible after all. But the mysterious Beatrice has a devastating secret to reveal that will affect them all…
Travel Guide
Aaah Italy – when reading this novel you know you couldn’t be anywhere else – the sun, mountains and the romance of being in the country are all beautifully evoked here. Despite the novel being set in WW2, the overall sense of the setting is one of hope and getting through the tough times.
The fact that four strangers collect at an old Italian house, drawn there by a legacy in order to find out if they will be able to claim part of the will on the condition that they find a codicil….well this is one premise that we would be willing to do too. A treasure hunt of sorts and a search for the truth. Not to mention them finding out how they are linked to the lady in question.
The location where the villa is a symbol of the peace and quiet they so desperately crave. It’s idyllic despite the time and why they are there –
It’s astonishing yelled Delia,an unreasonable surge of excitement rising in her as she caught a glimpse of the classical facade of a large house….
“The gates were shut, with a rusty chain pooped round the bars to hold them together….”
Oh the mystery of them finding the villa and that’s before the stunning location really comes into its own!
It all seems far away and unreal. The villa Dante has timeless quality….’As those nothing exists except the present moment”
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Villa in Italy
Author/Guide Elizabeth Edmondson Destination: Liguria Departure Time: 1940s, WW2
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