I was very kindly given an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley and Quercus Books.

Sometimes, the right book comes to you when you need it most. I said it about 'Convenience Store Woman' in the summer of 2020. And I'll say it now about 'One Italian Summer'.

What a glorious book. Not just to lift your spirits with its gorgeous descriptions of the Amalfi Coast, of food and wine and living a feeling I know so well but haven't had for years and years - it captured me within a few pages. I was a little nervous because it does talk about death and grief and illness, which I've been particularly sensitive towards over the last six months or so, but it was hopeful. I never got that anxious feeling I did normally. I felt calm reading about this. And that was all I could ask for.

Much like Serle's other books, the slight 'magical realism' element to the book is expertly crafted - in this one - I won't say what it is because SPOILERS - but it is just wonderful. It made me want to go to the Amalfi Coast. It made me want to live there!

Hopeful and heartwarming, it's all about how Katy grows and changes as a person, processing her own grief about losing a parent and discovering how to take care of herself and to exist in a world that was once out of focus and is now clear. It made me smile, it made me weep (and I don't cry at books that often) - and when I finished the final page, I felt like I'd lost a little something. Certainly my first 'favourite book' of 2022.

'One Italian Summer' will be published in the UK on March 1, 2022.