Summer at the Villa Rosa [Paperback]

Nicky Pellegrino (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

Raffaella Moretti, by far the most beautiful girl in the southern Italian town of Triento, is about to marry the only boy she has ever loved. It seems that nothing but happiness lies in store for Raffaella. Yet, just one year later, she is a widow, and has had to take a job as housekeeper in the Villa Rosa, for the young American who is temporarily working in Triento. As Raffaella struggles to recapture her own lost happiness she starts looking for ways to help those around her to do the same. There is Silvana the baker's wife, her passion barely hidden; Carlotta the gardener's daughter with her mysterious grief, and the kind and gentle owner of the Gypsy Tearoom who offers Raffaella friendship. As the lives of these villagers interweave, Raffaella is pulled into the centre of a conflict that threatens not only to divide Triento but also to destroy all she holds dear. Filled with food, love and longing, SUMMER AT THE VILLA ROSA is like taking a seat in a sun-drenched piazza, and becoming a tiny part of the endless spectacle of life there.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Set against a backdrop of love, life, friendship and food, Mediterranean beauty Raffaella attemtps to rediscover her happiness after her one true love dies. ... The descriptions of Italian food will make your mouth water.' COSMOPOLITAN 'A touching story about one woman's search for love.' SUNDAY EXPRESS --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Nicky Pellegrino's Italian father came to England and fell in love with a Liverpool girl. Bringing his passion for food to his new family, his Italian mantra that you live to eat not eat to live is one of the inspirations behind Nicky's delicious novels. Now living in New Zealand, where she works as a journalist, Nicky hordes her holidays so she and her husband can return to Italy to see family, eat the best mozzarella and research her books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075289322X
• ISBN-13: 978-0752893228
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable chicklit with an italian flavour, August 9, 2007

By 

Julia Flyte - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Gypsy Tearoom (Hardcover)

Summer at the Villa Rosa (originally published under the title of The Gypsy Tearoom) is set in a small village in Southern Italy. The book has evocative descriptions of life in Italy and particularly the food - oh! the food descriptions made me want to pull out my Italian recipe books and raid the nearest herb garden.

The story is hard to sum up because it has so many strands. The heroine is the beautiful Rafaella, who is a new bride when the novel opens and swiftly becomes a young widow. She struggles to find her place in the village and becomes the subject of gossip and innuendo. She reminded me a bit of Jane Austen's Emma, because she is always trying to put things right in the lives of the people around her. Meanwhile the village is divided over plans to erect a massive statue on the hill above the village and Rafaella is inadvertently caught between the two factions. There are also a couple of romantic interests and she struggles with her feelings for them and her loyalty to her deceased husband.

It is not a perfect book by any means. None of the characters are fleshed out, most are one-dimensional. There are storylines that are not resolved and at least one important plot point is left unexplained. However in spite of these it's an easy and enjoyable book to read and would make ideal holiday summer reading. It is similar in style to novels by Marian Keyes and Lolly Winston, but I felt it was a better book than the ones that I have read by those authors. Pellegrino is skillful at keeping all the storylines going and I particularly liked the fact that every time I thought I knew what was going to happen in the book, it would go in a different direction.

4.0 out of 5 stars A bittersweet story, October 27, 2008

By 

Betty K - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Summer at the Villa Rosa (Paperback)

"Summer at the Villa Rosa" is a bittersweet tale about life and love in a small coastal village in the south of Italy. Raffaella Moretti's life turns tragic when her beloved husband of one year dies of cancer. Her in-laws all blame her and the town gossip is that she slowly killed him.

In the meantime, the village priests want to erect a gigantic statue of Christ on the mountain behind the town and Raffaella's father and his fellow fishermen are against the plan. Her life becomes even more complicated when she is hired as a housekeeper at the Villa Rosa estate for the American engineer hired to erect the statue.

I enjoyed everything about this book; the settings, the interplay between the characters and the fact that it didn't just have a fairy tale ending. It even offers you a little insight into life in general. Whether you're having a day at the beach or an evening in front of a fireplace, it's an easy and enjoyable read.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Delicious, January 15, 2008

By 

J Trelithen (MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gypsy Tea Room (Paperback)

I loved Nicky Pellegrino's first book, Delicious, and so approached this one with a certain amount of trepidation (second book syndrome and all). But it is FABULOUS. Even better, dare I day it, than Delicious. Nicky has obviously spent a lot of time in Southern Italy as the sights, sounds and above all scents and tastes of the region fill every page. It is a sensory delight and I dare you not to read it without your mouth watering... But - quite apart from that - it is a sensitive and intriguing read, filled with loss, romance, passion and intrigue. Given the covers of her books, you could be lured into thinking they are mere chick-lit - far from it. There is so much to keep you guessing all the way through, but it is never contrived. The ending, also, is imaginative and not remotely cliched.
Nicky Pellegrino is an author to savour -and to watch. I can't wait for her next book.