The Villa Girls by Nicky Pellegrino

This book of The Villa Girls is wonderful and a joy to read.  Nicky Pellegrino writes about life, beautiful landscapes and gardens, olive trees and celebrations.  The story involves four girls who become life-long friends and take their holidays together.

Rosie is alone in the world without a family and much of the story is about her interaction with Addolorata’s  family and Italian restaurant, Little Italy.  Rosie makes her own way in the world with a love of photography and works in this field in London.

On one of the holidays to Italy Rosie meets Enzo whose life evolves around his family’s estate of the olive trees.  This did seem to be a wonderful romance at the beginning but unfortunately life turned out differently at the time for Rosie and Enzo.

 I found the descriptions of the olive estate, the harvests, the celebrations, food and wine and family of Enzo, especially his Nonna  with her words of wisdom beautiful.  There was beauty in the olive groves and it was a life which seemed to be determined by the state of the trees and the weather.  However, at one time, Enzo’s grand-mother spoke to Enzo and told him to forget the trees for a moment and that if she had made him believe that the olive trees were the most important thing of all then she was sorry.  Nothing is more important than love.  Perhaps counsel such as this and wise words from his sister Concetta, may have made him see sense before he embarked on a marriage of convenience with a local woman, Maria Luisa, who saw him as a second best choice as her husband.

This story is well recommended and it is wonderful to read each new chapter with anticipation as the story unfolds.  The settings in London and also Italy with its winding little cobble stone lanes and pizza parlours, coffee shops  and pastries are quite beguiling.  Lovely descriptions of the scenery , the flowering gardens of fruit trees and blooms in the summertime, coastal roads, the villages, beaches of Triente and Amalfi  are also wonderful.

  

Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress

Once again, the last film in the Sissi trilogy of films does not disappoint.  A wonderful film of magnificent settings and beauty.  These films are well recommended.

Sissi at one time leaves the Viennese court and travels to warmer climes.  The backdrop of scenery is magical and the pageantry of the times magnificent.  This is a film which will warm the very soul.  It is lovely..  The music and song and dancing are also wonderful.  The Viennese dances at court seem very different from the traditional folk music of Hungary.  The film is a splendour of romance and
beauty. 

Sissi travels to Hungary Madeira and Italy.  To see this film is a visual beauty

I now look forward to watching the film of Queen Victoria in Dover which complements the set of
the Sissi trilogy.

My best wishes

The Fall of the Stone City by Ismail Kadare

This wonderfully written book is a fascinating

tale of legends, beliefs, politics and a lost way

of culture.

It is a story set in Albania when the German tanks advanced

over the border during the war years

and subsequently the communist take-over of power.

The story is written on several levels.

Firstly, it is a very personal oxes, wolves

and human story of two doctors who worked the hospital in the

town of Gjirokaster. Their names were Mr Big Gurameto and Mr Little

Gurameto. They were unrelated. Big Gurameto had studied in Germany and

Little Gurameto had trained in Italy. Both doctors were dedicated to their profession.

The esteem which they were held in by the general populace often fluctuated depending upon the rise and fall of the respective countries in the polictical environment of the time.

Secondly, it is also a story of Albanian honour and hospitality.

Thirdly, it is associated with legends and stories of the Albanian culture.

It is also a breathtaking story for its beauty and scope. Geographical locations

are described and illuminated with clarity. The foxes and wolves of the hills, the mountains of Lunxheria,

the little villages, the ladies from the great aristocratic houses and the stone city are described

beautifully and with wonder. Albania at one time was a beautiful place.

The story also fascinates.

It is as though Mr Big Gurameto has a mirror of his life

held up to him and shining within him. His destiny? Or he wishes he could change it.

From small and generous gestures of generosity and hospitality a previous occasion

comes back to haunt him in unexpected ways. This was the occasion of his generosity

towards a German colonel whom he had known from his student days in Germany.

There is so much more to this story. And what a story it is! Perhaps it was his mind playing tricks on him.

And no wonder! From small childhood beliefs and legends, the story seemed to grow.

Dear Heart, How Like You This? by Wendy J Dunn

Is it possible to write a perfect book? This book comes close

to perfection in its well crafted descriptions of beauty, sensitivity and poetry.

This novel tells the story of Anne Boleyn

and Sir Thomas Wyatt and his enduring love for the doomed queen.

A beautiful gem of a novel full of insight and the magical, beautiful

times of the earlier tudor years.

The story is told by Sir Thomas Wyatt from his early years of

childhood spent at the childhood home of Anne Boleyn at Hever

Castle. He often reminiscences of his earlier, happy years spent

in the company of Anne and George Boleyn.

The majestic and inspirational poetry of Sir Thomas Wyatt often

seems to tell its own story written from the heart. This is an exquisite story

of beauty, truth and love. It is a historical

fiction novel. It is mentioned in the notes in a biographical sketch

of Sir Thomas Wyatt that Anne

Boleyn gave to one of her ladies her treasured prayer book for Sir Thomas Wyatt.

This was moments before her impending execution at the scaffold.

I loved following the story, the travels of

Sir Thomas Wyatt to the French

court and also to Italy. He was a diplomat of the tudor court and in his work often spent time

away from the court on government business.

Set during the earlier years of the reign of Henry

VIII this book gives valuable insights into the court of Henry VIII and the

politics of the time during these quite turbulent years.

A story which captures emotion, drama and the mood of the times so well and

is often written from a reflective view point. Quite beautiful!

Some novelists have a gift. Another novel of great beauty and sensitivity is brought

to mind: “Farewell, My Queen” by Chantal Thomas which is a story of the reader

who sat with Marie Antoinette during the final years of the court

and who subsequently wrote her story many years later in Vienna.