FLORENCE - Rosa blossoms in this beautiful city

Tuscan Rose by Belinda Alexandra, set in Florence, first half 20th Century

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ROME - a marriage of smoke and mirrors

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TUSCANY: beaches + romance + locale (what more do you need?)

Save the Date! by Allie Spencer set in Tuscany

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A brush with VENICE - our novel selection

It happened in Venice by Molly Hopkins is a highly entertaining, funny and witty read. The author has done a great job in bringing her very human characters to life, with their flaws and inconsistencies as well as endearing qualities, and real and engaging dialogue.  My first impression in the first pages was that it was a crossover between Sex and the City and Sailor Moon (I don’t know if that’s good or bad, I guess it would depend on whether you like Sex and the City and Sailor Moon…).  On the whole, even with Evie’s overall aloofness (and recurring desperation), and Lulu’s insanity, I found the book heartwarming, and it left me with a cozy feeling of fulfilment.

The title itself is misleading… or rather, the back cover is misleading, for whatever happens, DOES happen in Venice (and we’re all the more glad for it to happen, by the way); but nothing happens as we are led to believe on the back cover, meaning a story taking place IN Venice, and instead we see Venice in just a few chapters.  That’s not a bad thing, however, because there is a handful of other cities that take over some of the other chapters and give the book a wonderful balance. For Evie’s story, every city counts, as they mirror her emotions at the time and convey a feeling of completion for the issues that she has to come to terms with.

Together with Evie we walk into the heartbeat of each city, Dublin with its cheery people, Amsterdam with its fast-paced way of life and beyond-gorgeous architecture, Marrakesh with its color and noise and flavours… and Paris, where heartbreak and strength meet at the Arc de Triomphe, as well as London, where real life prepares Evie for each one of her travels and for learning more about herself than she ever bargained for.  The way each city plays into the story is fascinating, almost as if they were characters themselves, all described with high-quality imagery and sense of place, and with a soul and a fundamental connection with Evie. Of Venice itself, I can hear Evie saying that voices make Venice stand out “over and above anywhere else… voices as opposed to the screeches of breaks and the roar of cars and buses”, and I have to say that it is one of the most beautiful and original ways I have ever heard a city’s essence described, and that I fully agree with her, because in Venice you get a higher sense of humanity than anywhere else, at least of those super-highly touristic spots where you have thousands of people every day and all year round. Amsterdam and Dublin get captured very cleverly as well in the final notes, as Evie tell us her anecdotes as well as facts about each city (and which made me laugh really hard).

I laughed a lot at different moments on each page, the dialogue is that good. Although I have to admit that I found Evie (and Lulu, but that was the point of her) very annoying at times. Evie’s twin nieces were perfectly portrayed for reality and comic relief, and John’s and Nikki’s places for grounding Evie were absolutely fantastic, particularly by the last chapters. And speaking of Nikki, he and his Greek family were another great way of making us travel within the pages, even if it was a little over the top at times…  Three of my best friends in the world are Greek, so I really enjoyed laughing on their account, although my Konstantinos is not a lazy teenage waiter, my Spyros is not a bad-tempered middle-aged uncle, and my Nikolas is not a hot blooded body-builder. All are good-looking and all are taken, sorry girls.

It happened in Venice is a great summer read, light and funny, definitely chic lit for the smart chic… so, enjoy!

In the mood for a little more reading that involves a brush with Venice? We have two more novels that feature the city on the cover but will also take you further afield (you even get Lake Como, Falmouth and London, for example are thrown in for your delectation)!

Do you have enough romance in your life?Journalist Kirsty Bailey would have to answer no. She has the essential starter kit - a boyfriend - but somehow Joe seems to have skipped the vows of for better/for worse and gone straight to for granted.But then just as she's on the verge of settling for a swoon-free existence, Kirsty's magazine sends her to a majestic Venetian palazzo to attend the much gossiped-about Love Academy... Her undercover mission? To prove her editor's theory that this 'school for singles' is nothing more than an escort agency with a sexy accent and fancy glass chandeliers. But what if her editor is wrong and their promise of true amore is for real? Will Kirsty be able to resist the kind of moonlit temptations she's been dreaming of for years, or is her relationship with Joe going, going, gondola?If you think Casanova was a bad boy, just wait until you see what Cupid has in store for Kirsty...

A girl flees to Venice to escape her dangerous past in this electrifying novel of intrigue, psychological tension and suspense... For Lucy Riddick, Venice has always been the dream destination. A dream inspired by the pretty picture pinned to her mother's kitchen wall. To Lucy, Venice seems the ideal place to lose herself. And now she needs to do just that. The secret she's been keeping from her boyfriend and her friends has finally caught up with her and Lucy needs to disappear - and fast. There's no better time to pack her bags and head for Italy. But what if, when she sets foot in Venice, Lucy finds that the one thing she has been running from, the one thing she has been trying to escape, is already there, lying in wait for her? Time to run away again? Or time to end the chase, once and for all?

Happy reading from Sandra and the TripFiction Team – and click on the title to catch Sandra’s own novel La Sombra Detrás (in Spanish) here And our full collection of novels set in Venice can be found here

Sex and the City (Milanese Style), or, Some Ponderings On Optimal Title Length for a Best-Selling Novel

The Divorced Lady's Companion to Living in Italy by Catherine McNamara, set in Milan.

Our review now appears on the new TripFiction website here

VENICE under the watchful eyes of Guido Brunetti and Donna Leon

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

One of the authors who inspired us set up TripFiction was, of course, Donna Leon. One of the most long-standing authors to use location as a character in its own right, she brings the "feel" of Venice to the page through her descriptive prose. She is, in fact American by birth but has lived in, and observed Venice for the past 25 years. She has written well over 20 books featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, who tackles crime across the Laguna.

We would love it if you would talk to us and our wider community about which particular Donna Leon novels would feature at the top of your personal list - where should a first time Donna Leon reader start? Which is your personal favourite? Inevitably some of the books are just that much better than others, and knowing which ones to pick up can be a really daunting task. So, please help your fellow readers, both actual and armchair, by leaving a review on the TripFiction website and/or using the Comments Box below to share your favourites. Imagine, there might be one clear favourite but without your help we don't know which one that would be.....!

We set the ball rolling by reviewing the Donna Leon novel we have read most recently - A Sea of Troubles, her 10th Brunetti novel.  

This book is largely set on the fishing island of Pellestrina, and Commissario Brunetti is tasked with resolving the murder of two fisherman, a father and son. The former is universally disliked, the latter is truly mourned.

The writing is as languorous as the lapping waves along the canals, the food on Brunetti's table is delicious as only Venetian food can be, and the detecting is interspersed with the odd glass of Prosecco or Vin Santo. Bonsuan, the police pilot, navigates the waterways as Brunetti shuttles back and forth between the islands, perhaps past the island of San Servolo, gliding past Santa Maria delle Grazie and San Clemente and on to Saca Sessola. Paola, his ever supportive wife, is always in the background, voicing her thoughts, keeping his conscience, getting him to think things through carefully and providing sustenance (both emotional and via food). Reading Donna Leon, for us, is not overly challenging, but brings Venice to life and feels as comfortable as a well worn pair of shoes. “Donna Leon’s engaging books have been the cheapest way to travel to Italy for quite some time…” (amazon)

Ann Reddy  - regular contributor to the TF site - reviews our second Donna Leon novel, number 17 in the series, The Girl of His Dreams

"I picked this book to review because it is set in beautiful Venice. I have visited this city many times and feel that I know it quite well, that is as a tourist. 

The Girl of His Dreams is one of a series of crime books featuring the detective Guido Brunetti. It has a story running through about a religious sect. A priest, who also has an interesting past, is concerned that the charismatic sect leader is persuading people to part with their money and even sell their homes. 

The title of the story does not start until about a third of the  way in, when the body of a young girl is pulled out of the Grand Canal. Here starts the investigation into what? A murder? A robbery? An accident? The girl with the fair hair is from the gypsy encampment on the mainland. Here you get an understanding of the nomadic way of life and how they try to live outside the rules.

Brunetti is a compassionate character who despite 'orders' wants to find out what happened to the little girl. I am not familiar with the Brunetti character and this book did not really give me much more depth to him. Perhaps if I had read this series of books in order I would feel I knew him better. 

You will recognise the names of Venice and I could picture the vaporetti on the Grand Canal. The Girl of His Dreams gives you a glimpse of living in Venice and the fact that Brunetti does not like driving, reminds you of the magical waterways. 

A personal view, I would recommend that if you have not read any of Donna Leon's series of Brunetti crime books that you start at the first. I struggled to really connect with the characters and it was a slow start. However, I did picture beautiful Venice which brought back wonderful memories of my many holidays there".

All our Venice set novels can be found here

Share with us your favourite Donna Leon in the Comments Box below and let's see which one comes overall top!

Noir Novels: ROME

"see a location through an author's eyes"

Two noir novels set in Rome, with colour co-ordinated covers! (Are cerulean blue and 50 shades of grey the workaday colours of the noir genre, we wonder?) Dark, dark city, murder, back alleys, sinister characters - these all feature in abundance, taking you to the places in Rome that as tourists we are (happily) unlikely to encounter.






 Any Human Face by Charles Lambert is set in the bleaker backwaters of Rome, on the edges of the gay community, each chapter like a snapshot in black and white. The Leitmotiv throughout the novel is a collection of photographs of convicts, which passes from one hand to another and eventually ends up in the possession of Andrew Caruso, who runs a delapidated book shop La Piccola Libreria, in the city. Moving between the 1980s and 2008, the photographic quality of the chapters serves to highlight the intrinsic isolation of many of the colourful characters who breeze in and out of the storyline, all the while set against a lurking presence of menace. The storyline and characters sometimes have a Pasolini-like quality, which really anchors the novel in the Eternal City.

And from this book we discovered  the restaurant “L'obitorio" un classico di Trastevere which serves pizza "piu' buona di Roma” - Bruno and Alex drop in early on in the book. Has anyone been there, what did you think?


"Even today, after two years of Roman vacations, I get lost in the center of the city as soon as I leave the perpendicular line of the Corso. For someone accustomed to the perfect symmetry of Manhattan, the twisting streets of the Italian capital seem a labyrinth of squares and narrow alleys, all the same: a fountain, a column, a flaking wall, a café, a market stall, a wild dog, a motorcycle, a beggar, a group of American or Japanese tourists, another fountain" (extract from Roman Holidays, Rome Noir short story, by Enrico Franceschini).

Recognise Rome from this short description? The lovely indecipherable impenetrable city with a history going back two and a half thousand years; and this is just one of many descriptions that pepper the book of short stories Rome Noir edited by Chiara Stangalino and Maxim Jakubowski. A cocktail of 16 stories set around the capital from Stazione Termini to the Via Appia Antica, Fiumicino to the Villa Borghese. Some stories are like gossamer veils enveloping and captivating, some are downright dark, and others culminate in murderous intent. Others are visceral in their storyline, some are seamy, but there is something for everyone. Tour the city through this collection and get to know areas off the beaten tourist track and experience the stories through the eyes of its citizens.

Share your choice of Rome set noir novels with us below in the Comments Box - novels that bring a place to life  (oh, and any suggestions for any good, out-of-the-way eateries?).

Death stalks the pages in "Never Coming Home" (Italy)

Set in
USA, England, Italy

Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham is an engrossing novel from the folks at Choc Lit publishers, this book bowls along at a cracking pace, from the USA, to England and over to Italy. A storyline that twists and turns, slowing a little in its pace as it comes to the final chapters. Is Jamie, the little girl alive or is she not?

And here at TF we absolutely love the cover - and a lot of covers cross our path, both great and not so great. Here, the heat and sun of Italy are evoked: the shadows, the shutters, the shapes all come together to highlight the dark, featureless figure of the little girl in the foreground. The cover gives a brooding sense of foreboding, a dark mystery about to unfold in the pages of this book. 

Available to buy from your local bookshop or through TripFiction by clicking on the cover.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH EVONNE WAREHAM

TF In “Never coming Home” you evoke Italy particularly well. What drew to that country as a location?

EW Thank you – I’m glad you enjoyed the portrayal of Italy. The locations of my books are important to me, as I want to take the reader to somewhere glamorous and exciting – and then have sinister things happen. I love Italy, and Florence is one of my favourite cities. When I needed to send my heroine, Kaz, to search for her ex-husband in Europe, it was a natural choice. I like to write about beautiful locations, full of sunshine, as I HATE the cold, and it is lovely to re-visit places I have stayed, even if the return visit is only in my memory and imagination! Because the locations in my books are special to me, I’ve created an armchair tour for Never Coming Home, with pictures and more information. It’s on my blog http://www.evonneonwednesday.blogspot.com 

TF It’s a fabulous plot that goes back and forth. How did the storyline evolve?

EW I’m not really sure how it worked. I knew what all the threads were and where they were going, but I’m still not certain how they knitted themselves together. I did have panic moments where I had to check that characters were not in two places at once, but it was usually OK. I had a pretty strong idea of the plot before I began writing, but things never quite go as you plan them. I do a lot with time lines and I had multiple ones to cover parts of the story that were taking place simultaneously, but in different parts of the world. 

TF We are particularly drawn to the cover which is infused with the warm “pink” that you see in Italy so often, the shadows make it feel like a really hot climate and the shadowy figure of the little girl leads one to wonder whether she is really there or not. How much input did you have in the design?

EW My publisher, Choc Lit, is very good about involving their authors in the cover choice. There were half a dozen possibilities, and I would have been happy with any of them, but the one that was finally chosen completely sums up the book for me. I’m grateful to Berni, the designer, for the trouble she took. And I’ve been lucky enough to have her design the cover for my second book – Out of Sight Out of Mind - which has a very different look, but is equally gorgeous.

TF How did you first come to writing?

EW I’ve been writing since I was in school and Never Coming Home is the result of a very long apprenticeship! It took me a while to find the genre that I really enjoyed writing. I love creating a balance between the love story and the thriller element and I’ve discovered a darker side to my work that I didn’t know existed. 

TF How did you decide on the names of your characters?

EW Authors will tell you that the names of characters are very important, and it’s true. I try out a lot of ideas in my head, before anything gets written down. I knew very early that Devlin would only use one name. Because of the life he has led, he has had many changes of identity and he’s simply got bored with thinking up new names. Devlin seemed to fit him. Kaz/Katarina started out as Caz, but the spell checker on my machine kept trying to change it and in the end I decided to give in – and when I did, it felt right. When you get the right name it seems to click. It may not even be a name you particularly like, but once it fits, that’s it. 

THANK YOU to Evonne for answering our questions.