For sale: historic building in the picturesque town of Montenello, southern Italy. Asking price: 1 Euro
Cloudless skies, sun-soaked countryside, delicious food... In the drowsy heat of an Italian summer, four strangers arrive in a beautiful town nestled in the mountains of Basilicata, dreaming of a new adventure. An innovative scheme by the town's Mayor has given them the chance to buy a crumbling historic building for a single Euro - on the condition that they renovate their home within three years, and help to bring new life to the close-knit local community.
Elise is desperate to get on the property ladder. Edward wants to escape a life he feels suffocated by. Mimi is determined to start afresh after her divorce. And there's one new arrival whose true motives are yet to be revealed...
For each of them, Montenello offers a different promise of happiness. But can they turn their dream of Italy into reality?
Copy received from Hachette Australia for an honest review
This is my first Nicky Pellegrino read (much to my sister's disgust, she is always pointing them out for me to read) and I really did enjoy it.
I have been been on a run of darker reads and true crime stories, A Dream of Italy was the perfect antidote, with its light story and beautiful scenery.
I live in a small country town, where nearby they have done the $1 houses. I tell you what though, I would skip across the ocean without a life jacket to buy a house in Italy for a euro!
It did take me a while to really connect with any of the characters, however once I did, I was totally wrapped up in them and their stories.
Nicky Pellegrino has written with such beautiful imagery that I could picture myself driving into the town, could see myself wandering the piazza in the afternoon.
And it has made me want to visit Italy.
I will get there one day, I am sure of it.
Now I need to go back and read more of Ms Pellegrino's work whilst I wait for something new.
Nicky Pellegrino is a Number 1 best selling author who has written ten fabulous novels. Her inspiration comes from her Italian heritage. When her Italian father came to England he fell in love with and married a Liverpool girl. Her brought to his new family his passion for food and instilled in them what all Italians know - that you live to eat rather than eat to live. This Italian mantra is the inspireation behind nicky's delicious novels. Every summer the family left their home in Merseyside and returned to her father's home town near Naples in Southern Italy. When Nicky met and married a New Zealander she moved to Auckland where she works as a journalist and edits a women's magazine. She hoards her annual leave so that she and her husband can return to Italy to meet up with her famly and to eat the best mozzarella and research her books
