Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Review: The Invitation

The Invitation The Invitation by Lucy Foley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ohhhh! That amazing feeling when you read a book that's absolutely wonderful, marvelous, just for you!

Picture Rome in 1953. Hal, a British journalist has a nothing job writing for an Italian newspaper. He's left the UK after the war and as we later find out, he has something that seems like PTSD. One night, he crashes a party and meets an aging Contessa, who is also a film producer. That same night, he meets a mysterious woman, of whom he knows nothing.

More than a year later, the Contessa invites him on a boat trip. They're headed to Cannes to present the film. Who? The Contessa, a photographer, the film director, the two main actors and the man who financed it with his wife. The wife turns out to be the mysterious woman.

Stella -the wife- may seem like a NY socialite, but she is Spanish and had a very bad time during the Civil War. But her life is not as golden as it seems, as he is a dominant and cruel man.
Behind him, the love affair between Stella and Hal goes on.

The atmosphere in this book is spot on. I felt like I was in an Italian movie of that time. The characters are extremely well described, as well as the different situations and turns of the plot. This is a book I absolutely recommend, and I'm running to the bookstore to buy Lucy Foley's first book.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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