Review: To Italy, With Love

Title: To Italy, With Love

Author: Nicky Pellegrino

Publisher: 28th September 2021 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 317 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: contemporary

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

Love happens when you least expect it...

Assunta has given up on love. She might run her little trattoria in the most romantic mountain town in Italy, but love just seems to have passed her by.

Sarah-Jane is finished with love. She's buying an old convertible and driving around Italy this summer - it's the perfect way to forget all about her hot celebrity ex-boyfriend!

But when Sarah-Jane's car breaks down in Montenello, she has to stay longer than she intended. And the trouble is, love is everywhere...

My Thoughts

‘… she couldn’t help imagining what it might be like to have someone beside her as she moved through the rest of her life; a person to talk to and laugh with, to lean on whenever it seemed she couldn’t stand alone.’

I have read and enjoyed Nicky's previous books as they always provide some good escapism. In To Italy, With Love, she gives us two lead characters who are not happy or satisfied with their life and through their stories find that love, friendship and family are the cornerstones of happiness - along with some great cuisine! 

Nicky has once again created characters and scenarios that allow for realisation and growth with two women at different stages in their lives. She writes so well that I want to be with Sarah-Jane and have a cup of tea and I want to eat at Assunta’s trattoria. Which leads to the food … sumptuous and so inviting. We may not be travelling to Italy right now, but thanks to Nicky, the charming village of Montenello gives us the armchair travel we are all craving for. 

In her acknowledgements Nicky notes that this was her Covid/lockdown book. She wished to pen a happy tale where people could escape to Italy through its pages. However, by the conclusion it had become apparent that it had evolved into so much more. At a deeper level it was also a tale about loneliness, seeking connections and, when surrounded by loved ones, no life was too small to find purpose and meaning.

‘But there was a pleasure to be found in setting a table with her grandmother’s china, her good crystal and bone-handled cutlery. In having a cloth napkin and pouring a glass of ruby red Aglianico wine.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.