THE ITALIAN MATCHMAKER by SANTA MONTEFIORE

 THE ITALIAN MATCHMAKER

by

SANTA MONTEFIORE

THE BLURB:

The walls of the palazzo held secrets hidden until now...

Gianluca has to admit his life is empty. His marriage is over and he barely knows his young daughters. In search of serenity, he flees to Italy, to the magical Palazzo Montelimone lovingly restored by his parents, to reconnect with himself.

But life on the sun-drenched Amalfi coast is not as peaceful as Luca hoped. The palazzo is filled with his mother's eccentric friends and haunted by the ghosts of its murderous past.

Then he meets a woman whose dark eyes are heavy with sorrow and a solemn little boy with an incredible secret.

And he begins to unravel a mystery that has its roots in a long-ago act of violence, Luca is forced to face his greatest fear in exchange for the greatest truth.

THE REALITY:

This is the second book I've read penned by the sister of (now sadly deceased) 1990s socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. It's quite predictable in that it's based around the upper middle classes (they say write about what you know), but I don't hold that against the author- no one can help their social background. Besides, this did what it said on the tin, and took you on an interesting dance throughout the Amalfi coast, with some very compelling, genuine and varied characters thrown in.

I love that the springboard for this book was the author's experience with the supernatural. Like her, I know that this life on earth is not the beginning and the end of it. I've seen a well-documented spectre myself, and people who have passed have visited me in my dreams. I worked out very early on that Francesco (spoiler alert!) was in fact a ghost not visible to many.

I did worry that the main point of view would be coming from a man. I shouldn't question whether female authors are capable of writing from a male perspective- I've done it myself and it's good practise to slip into character and write in different ways. I liked the way Luca developed from the discontented individual that he was and found (another spoiler alert!) love and thoroughly enjoyed how the ambience, Italian familial ties and scents of this part of Italy (especially the lemon grove) were brought to life.

I did like some of the similes. The moon was referred to as either a cracked, broken or shiny coin (silly me didn't bookmark the page), similar in charm to those this author has created before; to magical effect. I also loved the variety of characters, especially the awful- you could almost smell grubby-on-the-inside journalist Fiyona, and as for Max and Dizzy (you just know someone who calls themselves Dizzy is going to be a tad comical) going upstairs for what they call “nuggy bunny” (apparently that's just cuddling in bed...) That's one page I did bother to bookmark as it certainly touched me, in that it made me feel sick!

The Palazzo itself seemed quite a wonderful place to be (especially the marquis's erotic folly), but one big problem I found was the sheer amount of characters introduced. I know Italian families are traditionally large but boy, it was so hard to keep tabs on who was related to whom, and how!

A good read with a nice ecclesiastical ending touch thrown in for good measure. Read it and see for yourself.