Italian Women

When Katy's mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn't just Katy's mum, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers, and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, the mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer before she met Katy's father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone. But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother's spirit.

When Lily is called to a lawyer’s office in London, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever. There, she is told that her grandmother was born at Hope House, a home for unmarried mothers, and is given a box containing the only clues to her true heritage. Peeling back the delicate layers of paper she finds an Italian recipe and a theatre program.

From early childhood, we learn about the world and its possibilities through myths and fairy tales. The heroines, though, tend to be golden-haired princesses, and the evil-doers often older women. But from midlife onwards, women today are searching for positive versions of themselves, and this dazzling array of not-to-be-messed-with characters provides them. They outwit monsters, test and mentor younger heroines, embody the cycles and seasons of the earth, weave the world into being - and almost always have the last laugh.

Italy, 1932 - Mussolini's Italy is growing from strength to strength, but at what cost? One bright autumn morning, architect Isabella Berotti sits at a café in the vibrant centre of Bellina when a woman she's never met asks her to watch her 10-year-old daughter, just for a moment. Reluctantly Isabella agrees - and then watches in horror as the woman climbs to the top of the town's clock tower and steps over the edge.

Stella has life under control - and that's the way she likes it. For 25 years, she's been the trusted assistant to a legendary fashion designer, but after her boss dies suddenly, she's left with nothing to do apart from clear the studio. It seems as though the life she wanted has vanished. She is lost - until one day she finds a house swap website and sees a beautiful old villa in a Southern Italian village. Could she really exchange her poky London flat for that?

When the Mayor of a picturesque Italian town launches a new scheme to rejuvenate the community, his advertisement is read with interest and excitement by many. Zara is in her thirties and desperate to get on the property ladder. Tim and Lynda are retiring and need a project. Some are looking for a peaceful bolthole. Others hope to make a profit, start a business, escape a dull life or an unhappy relationship. And there is someone who just might be hiding their true motivation...

For generations, no second-born daughter in the Fontana family has married. Lucy desperately wants to find love, but for her cousin Emilia, their family curse is a blessing in disguise. But then their Great Aunt Poppy declares she’ll reunite with her long-lost love on her 18th birthday - and break the curse once and for all. And so the three women embark on a journey to Tuscany to fulfil Poppy’s last wish. But the secrets they uncover there could change their family forever....

Giovanna’s pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, is looking more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Will she turn out like her despised Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father have spent their whole lives avoiding and deriding? There must be a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is.

Her work has got in the way of relationships before but never like this. Annas job as a geologist takes her all over the world, including to the beautiful island of Elba, where shes sent to look for precious metals. And the island isnt the only thing thats gorgeous she cant believe her luck when she meets windsurfer Marco and sparks fly. But Anna must keep her role on Elba a secret to avoid upsetting the locals, which means lying to Marco even as they grow closer. When her old friend Toby visits, Anna suddenly finds herself torn between the attentions of the two men. However, Annas not the only one keeping secrets.

Rome, 1943: Marina Tozzi adores her father Vittorio and working together in his art gallery is her only escape from the reality of the Nazi occupation. Not only has Marina inherited her father’s passion for art but she is earning a reputation as an expert in her own right.

Workaholic, career-obsessed Francesca is fiercely independent and successful in all areas of life except one: family. She struggles to make time for her relationship with her teenage daughter, Allegra, and the two have become practically strangers to each other. When Allegra hangs out with a new crowd and is arrested for drug possession, Francesca gives in to her mother's wish that they take one epic summer vacation to trace their family roots in Italy. What she never expected was to be faced with the choice of a lifetime....

A touching memoir filled with food, friendships, and scenes of Italy, Pinch Me is ultimately a celebration of love, of learning to see the world, as well as oneself, through a different window, and of the powerful joy that comes from building a dream.

From a political and military point of view, the Partisan Diary provides firsthand knowledge of how the partisans in Piedmont fought, what obstacles they encountered, and who joined the struggle against the Nazis and the Fascists. The mountainous terrain and long winters of the Alpine regions (the site of many of their battles) and the ever-present threat of reprisals by German occupiers and their fascist partners exacerbated problems of organization among the various partisan groups.

The phone call to the police arrives at dusk from an isolated farmhouse, 50 miles from the city. A terrified woman's voice pleads for help. But a violent storm rages in the area, and the first available patrol only succeeds in reaching her hours later. It is too late. Something perturbing has happened, something which leaves the investigators in the dark. Just one person is able to reveal the message hidden behind this act of evil, but this person is no longer a policeman.

WWII secrets, forbidden love, and one terrible mistake... When Mia discovers an old letter, she sets out on a mission to uncover the truth about her grandmother's past. With the help of brooding local guide Leo, they sneak into the closed-off Isola di Parissi, where Mia falls in love with both the country and her guide. But as they uncover hidden and handwritten notes, Mia learns of a heartbreaking mistake her grandmother made during WWII that tore apart the island community. Will Mia be forced to leave Italy and her newfound love forever?

My work as a computer geek has me traveling around the world, solving mysteries and fighting bad guys. Sometimes with my friends, but always with trouble by my side. So you'd think I would've expected to be plagued by danger when I headed to Egypt with my best friend, Elvis Zimmerman, and boyfriend, Slash, to help track down Elvis's missing and estranged father. Nope. Genius runs in the family, and we quickly discovered Elvis's father is hot on the trail of an ancient and elusive artifact, one that people are willing to kill to find.

Inspired by true events, and for fans of The Beekeeper’s Promise and The Tuscan Child, comes a passionate, heartbreaking and absolutely pause-resisting story of two remarkable women, separated by history, finding the courage to look for light in the darkest places.

"Tra i boschi e le pareti rocciose a strapiombo, giù nell'orrido che conduce al torrente, tra le pozze d'acqua smeraldo che profuma di ghiaccio, qualcosa si nasconde. Me lo dicono le tracce di sangue, me lo dice l'esperienza: è successo, ma potrebbe risuccedere. Questo è solo l'inizio. Qualcosa di sconvolgente è accaduto, tra queste montagne. Qualcosa che richiede tutta la mia abilità investigativa. Sono un commissario di polizia specializzato in profiling e ogni giorno cammino sopra l'inferno."

Lila è scomparsa. Esagerata, come sempre, ha cancellato ogni traccia. Ed Elena, l'amica di tutta la vita, inizia a raccontare la storia del legame viscerale che le ha unite per sei decenni. Tra inconfessata rivalità e profondo affidamento, la ragazzina geniale e ribelle e l'amica studiosa attraversano gli anni dell'adolescenza, sullo sfondo di un rione della Napoli anni Cinquanta ritratta nella sua cruda epicità. Prima parte della tetralogia "L'amica geniale".

Sullo sfondo che prelude ai grandi cambiamenti degli anni Sessanta, Lila ed Elena si affacciano al mondo condividendo il desiderio di sfuggire al loro destino di ragazze cresciute nel rione napoletano.