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Summary
Summary
From New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Rhys Bowen comes a haunting novel about a woman who braves her father's hidden past to discover his secrets...
"Pass the bread, the olives, and the wine. Oh, and a copy of The Tuscan Child to savor with them." --NPR
In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal.
Nearly thirty years later, Hugo's estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father's funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation.
Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father's history--and maybe come to understand herself as well. Joanna soon discovers that some would prefer the past be left undisturbed, but she has come too far to let go of her father's secrets now...
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
Bowen's second foray into straight historical fiction, after In Farleigh Field (2017), intertwines two time lines, of a father and daughter. Joanna Langley has mixed feelings about the sudden death of her disapproving father. While cleaning out his attic, she discovers a passionate letter, returned unopened from Italy. During the war, Sir Hugo Langley was shot down over a small village in Tuscany, where the kind Sofia Bartoli clandestinely tends his broken leg. Soon a friendship blossoms. The letter assures Sofia that Hugo hid their beautiful boy, and Joanna heads to Tuscany to see if she has a half brother. Instead, she meets Renzo Bartoli, bitter at having been abandoned by his mother after the war. While Joanna learns to appreciate the beauty of the Italian countryside especially the fresh, simple food she tries to unravel the mystery of her father's time in Italy. But not everyone in San Salvatore wants to relive the war, and soon she is the subject of a murder investigation. The alternating narratives keep the story moving along, and the pastoral setting is transporting.--Maguire, Susan Copyright 2018 Booklist
Library Journal Review
In her new stand-alone, Bowen (In Farleigh Field, the "Royal Spyness" and "Molly Murphy" series) gives us two stories wrapped in family history. Going through her recently deceased father's belongings, Joanna Langley finds a letter that stimulates her curiosity about the period when he was shot down over Tuscany during World War II. Seeking to understand more about the distant man with a serious limp, she begins to wonder if the events of the war shaped his later life. At a personal crossroads of her own, Joanna decides to travel to the Italian village mentioned in the letter in hopes of learning more about what happened there. The story shifts between his story of survival and her story of discovery. The villagers are not eager to recall the German occupation, and Joanna's questions set off a series of events none of them would have anticipated. Verdict There are few surprises here, but readers who enjoy World War ll historical fiction and rural Italian culture will appreciate this story by a master of her genre.-Cheryl Bryan, Orleans, MA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
