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The Invitation

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The Invitation

By: Lucy Foley
Narrated by: Emma Gregory
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About this listen

Rome, 1950s. One fateful night, Hal Jacobs meets Stella, a beautiful society darling from New York. To Hal, flailing in the post-war darkness, she’s a point of light. They’re from different worlds, but both trying and failing to carve out a new life.

Stella vanishes all too quickly, until a curious invitation from an Italian Contessa reels her back into Hal’s world. They join the Contessa’s collection of luminaries on a yacht headed for Cannes film festival.

The scene on board is a fiction – scars from the war can be hidden yet not healed. Everyone is hiding a dark history, but Stella’s secrets run the deepest. Compelled by her fragile beauty, Hal is determined to bring back the girl she once was, the girl who’s been confined to history.

The Invitation is an epic love story that will transport you from the glamour of the Italian Riviera, to the darkness of war-torn Spain, and to a golden – if rather haunted – time. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop.

©2016 Lucy Foley (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
20th Century Fiction Historical Fiction Holidays Literary Fiction Romance Women's Fiction Italy Celebration War Rome

Critic Reviews

"I loved The Invitation...I could dive into this book and be amongst the glittering characters in the Italian sun. A beautifully complex and vivid story, full of repressed longing and secrets. An absolutely enchanting tale." (Lucinda Riley)

"So powerfully evoked...with dark, sensuous undercurrents that lingered on in my mind, long after I'd reluctantly left Stella and Hal behind." (Kate Riordan)

"Full of mystery and long-reaching shadows of the past...richly drawn and compelling." (Rosanna Ley)

"An utterly seductive story depicting forbidden love and loss in 1950s Italy. The perfect beach read this summer." (Louise O'Neill)

"I loved every page - it's vividly written and utterly absorbing." (Iona Gray)

"Glamorous and romantic and bittersweet all at once...a fabulous story." (Beatriz Williams, New York Times best-selling author of A Hundred Summers)

"It's a beautiful, compulsive and glamorous read - perfect for long summer days." (Lucy Clarke, author of the Richard & Judy best seller The Sea Sisters)

"The combination of the glittering, glamorous setting and the magnetic characters mesmerized me. This book is luminous." (Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times best-selling author of Here's to Us)

"A compelling love story that takes us far beyond the alluring Italian coast to a darker place, where secrets hide just below the water's surface.... A great read." (Brunonia Barry, New York Times best-selling author of The Lace Reader)

"Fabulously engrossing." (Woman & Home)

What listeners say about The Invitation

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Tiresome Tale

Couldn't believe that Lucy Foley wrote this. The Paris Apartment was so exciting with great characters.

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  • Overall
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Shallow and clumsy

This book left me frustrated and a bit bewildered. It felt like the whole thing moved so slowly as to be glacial. There were elements that could have brought more depth and interest, such as surviving a war, but these harder topics were not fully fleshed out. What was the point of the parallel journal story? It was handled clumsily and seemed so unnecessary. It all felt like a preamble to the real drama that would begin at its ending. Disappointing.

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