Purchase and read in September/October, we will discuss in November.
Click the book photo and be brought to Amazon page.. the movie is great also!
Pulled off of Amazon; written by a male..
"For the start of this book I was a bit worried I wouldn't finish it, as it felt in the beginning like a terribly earnest `ladies' book; but I soon found out what a lovely book it is - I would call it charming if that wasn't so twee.
Four women - all strangers - spend a month sharing a house in Italy. Slowly but surely they slough off their old, grey skins and discover happiness. Much of this happiness comes simply from a change in their perceptions. Lotty, slightly fey, is the first to fall for the house's charms, and soon begins to act like the person she really is, rather than the quiet mousy woman her life has made her. When her husband comes to visit he realises what a wonder his wife is, and though his motives for visiting were less than pure, he falls back in love with the woman he first married. Rose, who constantly battles to square any enjoyment in life with her conscious, has the same effect when her husband accidentally arrives near the end of her holiday - he realises that his wife is still the woman he first married.
The other two women also have their epiphanies - old Mrs Fisher realises that living in the past, her only enjoyment being memories of the good and the great she met in her youth, is not as enjoyable as she thought; she lightens up and moves on to let happiness in to her life. And beautiful Scrap - Lady Caroline - realises how empty her life is. Slowly through the book we see her formulate a future life, and though she hasn't reached it by the novel's end, you feel she will.
This is a clever book - it makes you question how your perceptions flavour your life, and it also makes you question your perceptions of others. If only we all had a house in Italy to spend time reflecting on these issues....."
"For the start of this book I was a bit worried I wouldn't finish it, as it felt in the beginning like a terribly earnest `ladies' book; but I soon found out what a lovely book it is - I would call it charming if that wasn't so twee.
Four women - all strangers - spend a month sharing a house in Italy. Slowly but surely they slough off their old, grey skins and discover happiness. Much of this happiness comes simply from a change in their perceptions. Lotty, slightly fey, is the first to fall for the house's charms, and soon begins to act like the person she really is, rather than the quiet mousy woman her life has made her. When her husband comes to visit he realises what a wonder his wife is, and though his motives for visiting were less than pure, he falls back in love with the woman he first married. Rose, who constantly battles to square any enjoyment in life with her conscious, has the same effect when her husband accidentally arrives near the end of her holiday - he realises that his wife is still the woman he first married.
The other two women also have their epiphanies - old Mrs Fisher realises that living in the past, her only enjoyment being memories of the good and the great she met in her youth, is not as enjoyable as she thought; she lightens up and moves on to let happiness in to her life. And beautiful Scrap - Lady Caroline - realises how empty her life is. Slowly through the book we see her formulate a future life, and though she hasn't reached it by the novel's end, you feel she will.
This is a clever book - it makes you question how your perceptions flavour your life, and it also makes you question your perceptions of others. If only we all had a house in Italy to spend time reflecting on these issues....."
