Sunflower Publishing Book Reviews

  Two Women in Rome By Elizabeth Buchan SUMMARY: Lottie Archer arrives in Rome excited to begin her new job as an archivist. When she discovers a valuable fifteenth-century painting, she is drawn to find out more about the woman who left it behind, Nina Lawrence. Nina seems to have led a rewarding and useful life, restoring Italian gardens to their full glory following the destruction of World War Two. So why did no one attend her funeral in 1978? In exploring Nina's past, Lottie unravels a tragic love story beset by the political turmoil of post-war Italy. And as she edges closer to understanding Nina, she begins to confront the losses in her own life. MY REVIEW: T his is a powerful read and I almost feel that the understated and minimal title ‘Two Women in Rome’ belies a weighty and intricate storyline about Lottie and Nina. Two stories run in conjunction and are self-perpetuating. The more Lottie reads from Nina’s private journal, the more we discover about the lives of each...

    Abruzzo Intrigue By Bluette Matthey SUMMARY Hardy Durkin, owner of Durkin Tours brings a group of American middle-aged hikers to Abruzzo for a ten-day tour where they experience the unique culture, food and history of the region. Some of the characters are who they seem to be, but some are not. One member of the group, a grieving widow, plans to steal a precious religious relic from a church in Lanciano. The book is a collision of values and traditions while hiking through the often-overlooked beauty of ancient Abruzzo.   MY REVIEW: This book is a fusion of an Agatha Christie detective novel with a unique travel guide. A murder or two, a robbery, drama and colourful suspects. Even Guiseppe, the minibus driver behaves in a furtive way. It is quite a complex plot, twisting and turning to heighten the intrigue. The backdrop is the ‘green heart’ of Europe, the region of Abruzzo so there are many references to many places which the reader would find familiar....