Product Description

'Suddenly, she felt the thrill of being in so foreign a place, far more foreign that she had expected; a place where anything might happen ...' The restored Tuscan farmhouse on the edge of an ancient wood is the perfect setting for a late September holiday. As Justine Elliott, ehr friends and their families from university gather to relax and unwind, she hopes it will be a chance to put the most tragic events of the prvious year behind them all. However, the apparently peaceful Italian countryside holds as many secrets as its visitors and, before the week is out, the past and the present will collide, with unexpected and dramatic results ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32857 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

About the Author
Christobel Kent was born in London and now lives in Cambridge with her husband and four children; in between she lived in Italy. Her debut novel, A Party in San Niccolo, was published in May 2003.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely Brilliant
This book is two stories, which eventually become entwined into one. One story is about a woman living in a farmhouse in Italy. You find out how her life changed after the war and the memories she tried to forget about a personal tragedy. The other story is about a group of English 'friends' staying in a secluded building in the Italian countryside trying to find answers for the tragic death of someone close to them. Each story has one character from whose point of view we see the proceedings, whose memories we observe and whose communications with the other characters allow us to see how the past tragedies have effected each of these characters as individuals.

The descriptions of the surroundings are vivid, whether they are describing the peaceful Italian countryside or London at rush hour, so much so, that when one is being described, the other doesn't really seem to exist.

The reader is drawn into both plots with a combination of flashbacks and events in the present time (spanning one week). The flashbacks are cleverly done and reveal more questions than answers until the end when it all comes together.

The ending is perfect - neither rushed nor drawn out. I don't want to give away too much about the ending but it left me with a warm glow and the feeling that everything was going to turn out well for the characters... except the 'bad guy' who would hopefully not have such an easy life!

Holiday with friends
You can almost taste, smell and see Italy when you read this book. The writing as ever with this author is subtle and understated. A group of friends from England rent an Italian farmhouse in the wilds of nowhere for a late holiday. Anna enjoys a visit from her son Paolo in her isolated house in the mountains a few kilometres from the farmhouse.

For both groups a crisis point has been reached and things will come to a head before the story ends. The holidaymakers are mourning a friend who would normally have been with them and her absence hangs over them. For the Italians it is Paolo's dead father whose absence is as powerful as his presence would have been.

Christobel Kent's books are always atmospheric and this one is no exception. The mysteries at the heart of the story are well signposted but still a surprise when all is revealed. If you like your fiction understated and with more depth than the average then you will enjoy this one and it's cheaper than a holiday in Italy would be!

A beautifully written, intriguing story
I found this book to be a classic 'miss your tube stop' type book as I whenever I picked it up I was immediately engrossed in the story to the point of being oblivious to everything around me!

The author has a real gift for creating well observed characters who are extremely believable. Add to that the air of mystery that the story has, keeping you wondering right up to the very end how things are going to turn out, and the gorgeous descriptions of life in the Italian countryside and this all makes for a really great book. I now need to buy several copies to give to people!