Well, there’s chic lit and there’s romantic fiction and then there’s…… Rebecca Serle! I think she merits a genre all of her own!
Her novel In Five Years was a bold exercise in twisting the reader around her little finger in terms of plot. Twists and turns that you didn’t see coming. One Italian Summer sees a major twist. But it’s clear that this author is still interested in playing with time and space. And she does it very well.
‘When Katy’s mother dies, she’s left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mum, but her best friend. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her most she’s gone.
As she sets off on the trip of a lifetime, which she was meant to take with her mother, Katy feels herself coming back to life. And then Carol appears, healthy and suntanned… And thirty years old.
Katy doesn’t understand what’s happening, or how - all she can focus on is that somehow, impossibly, she has her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy get to know Carol, what is another, but as the young woman who came before.
Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman who came before.
But can we ever truly know our parents? Soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.’
Another tale that tugs at your heart especially if you understand what it feels like to lose your mum. In that respect the opening of the book is a little heavy, but moving. As the narrative progresses those of us still paralysed by the pandemic into staycations rather than travelling further afield will be able to vicariously enjoy Positano. I would go as far to say that the Italian tourist board should be alerted to the potential of this book! I defy anyone reading it not to want to go to the Amalfi Coast. It’s very uplifting; the sights, the sounds the smells ………and the food. So if the first part of the book has you tearful, the rest will have you salivating too!
The characterisations are interesting. Because there are aspects of Katy that I found jarred with me. At time she seemed quite selfish but then I had to remind myself that she’s grieving and that does strange things to your behaviour. And the depiction of the young Carol as compared with the adult Carol are at odds but that really is one of the points of the story and I think it’s very well done. And there is such a poignancy to these characterisations and it is so interesting to consider the point at which you regard your own mum as more than ‘just’ your mum but as a person in her own right, with ideals, dreams and wishes.
If you’re looking for a story steeped in realism then you’re not likely to get it! But if you enjoy a story resplendent with romance and imagination you will. Yet it is more than “just“ a romance. It does explore the depths of grief that the loss of a loved throws you into. I suppose there’s a touch of the Mitch Alboms about it. But it also has interesting considerations about the nature of motherhood and the bond between a mother and a daughter, relationships too.
It’s probably a good escapist read, one for the beach but with the proviso that you do need tissues!
My thanks to Milly Reid at Quercus books for a gifted proof and a place upon the blog blast.
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