Sunflower Publishing Book Reviews

When the Mountains Dance  by Christine Toomey   SUMMARY: Love, loss and hope in the heart of Italy ‘In the wake of the strongest earthquake in Italy for nearly forty years and the many aftershocks that followed, Italians began speaking of the earth beneath our feet as la terra ballerina, the dancing earth. The dance they spoke of was unrelenting.’ Foreign correspondent Christine Toomey spent years renovating her glorious, long-abandoned hill-top home in Le Marche, Italy, as a haven of rest from covering crises around the world. But in 2016, the peace and beauty of this beloved landscape were thrown into chaos when a series of powerful earthquakes struck the heart of the Apennines. Wracked with grief for a place still reverberating with seismic aftershocks, Christine decided that one way of preserving the community was to tell its history. Fuelled by the artefacts uncovered in her attic - including oil paintings and lithographs, a map, thick with dust but showing deta...

    The Lost Garden By Angela Petch SUMMARY: Italy, 1930s. Tina lives in the crumbling castle of Montesecco with only her strict father and their maid, Allegra, for company. She’s never been allowed to ask questions about her mother, who died in childbirth. But the day Tina discovers a hidden, crumbling door, everything changes. Inside is an overgrown garden. Ivy and roses adorn the stone walls. Fresh water springs from a fountain and the scent of wild herbs fills the air. How did she never know this beautiful place existed? Excitedly begging Allegra for answers, the elderly woman’s face turns pale. ‘You must never mention this to your father. It’s not safe. You’ve found your mamma’s garden.’ The Count believes Tina’s mother died because of the garden: but Allegra refuses to say more. Certain she can feel her mother watching over her, Tina secretly tends to the garden herself. And when war breaks out, Tina’s encounters with local resistance figh...

      The Missing Half (La Meta D’un Soldo) By Cinzia Zuccarini SUMMARY When an archaeological dig uncovers the remains of a young girl, the fragments of her short life are pieced together to reveal a rich and evocative picture of eighteenth-century Venice. Abandoned at birth, with only one half of a broken coin to identify her, the young Prudenza is raised in the Conservatorio della Pietà, the famed Venetian orphanage and music school. Her virtuosity as a violinist earns her a place in the household of the Palazzo Grimani, where her story unfolds through the pages of her poignant diaries. We hear first-hand her intimate accounts of life in one of Venice’s most powerful families – the intrigues, loves and scandals – as well as the artistic and social frustrations suffered by women of the time. Blessed only with musical accomplishment in a society where family status and connections are all, Prudenza must find her own identity in an alienating world. Winner of ...