Sunflower Publishing Book Reviews

    Broken Madonna    By Anna Lucia   SUMMARY: Elena Ferrante meets Bernadette of Lourdes in a story of love, loss and belonging, spanning post-WW2 Italy through to 90’s England   Italy 1949 At an orphanage in the poverty-stricken Apennine Mountains, 15-year-old Adelina has only one friend - enigmatic, fragile Elisabetta, 11. When Elisabetta claims to see the Madonna by the river, Adelina has doubts. But after Elisabetta appears to heal a traumatised young soldier, Giulio, who starts to walk again without his stick, crowds flock to witness the mystery of Elisabetta’s miracles. Adelina can no longer contain her misgivings and seeks out the scheming priest, Padre Bosco. The secrets of the past begin to unravel, and Adelina, Elisabetta and Giulio each have to confront who or what to believe. Soon they face a terrible reckoning which will cause deep ripples in all their lives, reaching across the years to 1990s England.   MY REVIE...

  Love at First Sight By Jessica Gilmore SUMMARY She's in love. Just with the wrong man . . . Nora is done with dating, but still dreams of finding the one. So when a handsome stranger comes to her rescue one night and vanishes leaving only a business card, it's like a scene out of a romcom . . . It doesn't take long for the two to 'bump' into each other again, and Nora falls for the perfect-on-paper Gabe. Only a few weeks later, he invites her to Sicily, and she cannot believe her luck! Until Gabe is forced away for work, leaving her alone with his big and warm family in gorgeous Sicily who welcome her with open arms. Everyone but Luca, his older and distrustful brother, who is always around. Soon Nora finds herself on the holiday of a lifetime . . . just with the WRONG brother.   MY REVIEW: When I first started reading the book, Love at First Sight, I thought it would be a typical ‘rom-com or ‘beach read’  - a book you can take on holiday, w...

    My Modena - By Andrea Gelfuso SUMMARY: My Modena , by Andrea Susan Valentine Gelfuso Goetz (aka Andrea Gelfuso), is  a hilarious memoir  of the year she and her family spent in Modena Italy an Italian city that frustrated her every attempt to do the simplest things. Buying a stamp shouldn't be this complicated. Living in an apartment that was like camping, with tile and nowhere to sit. Modena is a town full of ancient churches and beautiful Italians. Here you will meet her friend Melanie, a fashionista who can make ATMs bend to her will from across the country. You will also meet her landlady Giovanna and her husband Raimondo who watched as six firefighters tried to get Andrea and her family back into their 7th-floor apartment, using a ladder truck. You'll also meet Piero the artist, Luca who sold boots, and let us not forget Danilo, Fabio (of the soon-to-be-famous Fabio's balcony), and Marcello, heart-stoppingly gorgeous Italians all.   MY R...

    A Perfect Crime    By Larry Maness SUMMARY Before 11 priceless pieces of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a respected Italian violin maker visited the museum to inspect a rare musical instrument requiring restoration. He took measurements and photographs and reported his findings to the museum’s director. Then, he disappeared. Was the innocent invitation to the violin maker the first step in a complex plot to rob the Gardner? The museum director thinks so and hires Theo R. Perdoux, an expert in worldwide art theft, to investigate. Inspired by the actual unsolved robbery of Boston’s Gardner Museum, Maness spins a plausible web that races ahead like a shot. The brisk pace and clever twists offer an intriguing explanation why masterpieces worth millions have never been found.   MY REVIEW: After the success of The Last Perdoux, Larry Maness is back with a second Theo R. Perdoux mystery/crime which promises to be a cap...