Who is Aurora? Every time she becomes a new Mrs (three times when last we counted) she becomes a new woman: art collector with the first; hippy with the second; deli owner with the last. Sad that they all died. Widowed three times...When Aurora decides to take herself off to Italy to visit her old friend, Nun Leonora, after her last husband's demise, she finds herself plunged into intrigues at the convent; and very odd goings on at the art gallery. Combined with her own dangerous lust for sex and food, this could well be the scenario that reveals the real Aurora - even to herself.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Roberts exhibits a jaunty sense of the absurd in her winking 12th novel, which follows the capers of Aurora, a suspiciously thrice-widowed Brit who takes a holiday in Padenza, Italy, following the death of her third husband. At the invitation of her best friend Leonora, an irreverent feminist abbess, Aurora settles in at a Padenza convent. Roberts (Booker-shortlisted for Daughters of the House) humorously guns for the Catholic Church-Aurora's nunnery getaway turns out to be anything but chaste. She embarks on a steamy affair with Father Michael, who may not be what he seems (a priest), and enjoys a flirtatious friendship with the local museum director Frederico Pagan, also not exactly who Aurora thinks he is (gay). The twisting, turning plot-involving drug smuggling, museum theft, and Aurora's late mother's gun-plus Aurora's Emma Bovary-esque tendency to live her life through lessons plucked from fiction, make for more sophisticated reading than a summary suggests. Though overly reliant on shock tactics and exaggerated psychological abnormality, Roberts provides a puzzle-like pleasure in story and character, and a memorable, if sensationalized main character whose attempts to define herself through men have left her dangerously empty and disappointed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
To say that Aurora has been unlucky in love is an understatement. Husbands one, two, and three all met untimely deaths, but now Aurora is ready to move on with her life. A trip to the Italian countryside, ostensibly to scout out new tempting tidbits for her London delicatessen and visit with her old friend, the feisty feminist turned convent abbess Leonora, seems just the ticket, and would have been, had not Aurora's domineering stepmother, Maude, arrived along with her parish priest, the oh-so-attractive and oh-so-mysterious Father Michael. Unable to stay at the convent for more than one night, Aurora is offered lodging in the museum apartment owned by another old friend, Frederico, a man whose sexual orientation Aurora has evidently mistaken. As Aurora succumbs to her passion for the erstwhile priest, Frederico expresses more than just friendship for the vulnerable Aurora. Roberts whimsically indulges her passion for favored themes of religion, sex, and food in this riotous and ribald tale that packs a didn't-see-that-one-coming ending. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Silly read,
By Lintuf (BROOKLYN, NEW YORK USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Reader, I Married Him (Paperback)
Disappointed in this book after a review in the NY Times which caused me to buy it. Silly all around. Very little comedy.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Deadly Farce,
This review is from: Reader, I Married Him (Paperback)
When I started this book, it seemed to be a sedate drama, but it quickly turned into a somewhat twisted comedy. It reminded me of some of the darker moments in Shakespeare's comedies. The book follows Aurora (or Dawn), a middle-aged woman who has just been widowed for the third time. She travels from England to Italy, where she meets with old friends and family members, and makes new acquaintances. It slowly becomes apparent that not only is Aurora not entirely who she appears to be, but neither are any of the people around her. Priests, nuns, museum directors, and even her elderly mother-in-law, everyone is hiding something. The matter of fact way that Aurora accepts all the twists and turns presented to her on her trip adds additional amusement to already funny situations.
At times the book was a bit slow, and I had a hard time keeping track of the relationships between all the minor characters. But in general, this was a very solid effort. If you like dark comedies, I'd urge you to give this novel a try.
4.0 out of 5 stars
An arch take on romance novels,
By Kari "kariwl" (Chapel Hill and DC) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Reader, I Married Him (Paperback)
This is a romance novel for those who don't normally read romance novels. If the idea of an dry British oddball heroine in Italy making fun of everyone else appeals to you, you'll likely be happy with this book.
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