One Summer in Tuscany is excellent holiday reading with a light touch of romance. It’s by Domenica de Rosa, who I’ve met, and is one of my favourite authors. I reviewed Villa Serena a few years back and enjoyed that too.
One Summer in Tuscany
by Domenica de Rosa
Love, rivalry, and writing in a Tuscan paradise . . . Welcome to the Castello de Luna.
High on a hill in the Tuscan countryside stands a castle of golden stone, home to Patricia O’Hara’s writers’ retreat – a serene hideaway where you can polish your prose by the pool, gain inspiration from your peers and eat the best melanzane in Italy, courtesy of chef Aldo. But, while the splendour of their surroundings never fails to wow the guests, huge maintenance bills and bad news from the bank threaten to close Patricia down. It’s make or break time for the Castello de Luna.
This August each of her seven aspiring authors arrives with emotional baggage alongside their manuscripts. But something is different. It may be just the prosecco, but soon lifelong spinster Mary is riding on the back of Aldo’s Vespa, and smouldering odd-job man Fabio has set more than one heart racing.
As temperatures rise, the writers gossip, flirt and gently polish their prose by the pool. But with some unexpected visitors to contend with, one thing’s for sure: neither the Castello, nor Patricia, has ever seen a summer like this. (Goodreads)
My Review
I continue to be amused by this author’s descriptions of writing courses and writers’ retreats. They have never appealed to me, and the depictions, albeit fictional, and of course definitely not based on any sort of reality, continue to put me off completely!
The author does supreme justice to the sights, sounds and ambience of the Tuscan hills. It’s a superb setting for an adventure in avoidance, complications, and all the other elements of the human condition. I really enjoyed the way the landscape and local traditions became part of the plot—which twists like a hillside road.
There are a few more light summer reads set in Italy from this author, and I look forward to reading them. But it won’t stop me devouring her crime fiction, written under her pen name!
I love the sound of this. I just returned from a writer’s retreat on the Ilse of Arran which was excellent. Having time to write, in a lovely setting, with wonderful writing buddies, is every writers dream.
Was that with Barb Taub? I bet she does great retreats!
Sounds like a true blue beach read!
Sounds like fun to me 💜💜
Hi,
Writer’s retreat ?
The friend who spent a week in a log cabin in Lapland wasn’t eaten by wolves, and, as planned, wrote the last seven chapters of her book.
Sounds perfect.
Writing courses have never appealed, and even after this summer, I’d choose Lapland, not Tuscany.
Esther
Sounds like a great beach–or trail–read. I’ve dabbled in artists’ residencies, which aren’t quite like writers’ retreats, but I do feel like it’s the group sort (with lots of private time included) that are what I need.