THE ITALIAN LESSON

by Janice Elliott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 26, 1986

A bright, gently satiric novel by the English author whose other work has dealt with major turns in often-touching minor lives. Here, Elliott has gathered a multinational mix of generally high-minded tourists in a delightful holiday retreat--a handsome, atmospheric medieval village on a hill near Florence, Italy. Initially isolated from the world, the tourists will be impinged upon by the chimeras of unnerving possibility and learn lessons in the impermanence of both gains and losses. Among the tourists happily or warily settling in at the Castello of San Salvatore: professor Will, who's been writing a book on E.M. Forster; his wife Fanny, recovering from a stillbirth; movie exec, ulcer-ridden Jay, and Lisa, who structures Jay's life and looks elsewhere (and everywhere) for sex; a brace of old-style English maiden ladies, secure with one another; a grieving widower, whose wife still lives in his waking dreams; and others similarly junketing forth for play and cultural bashes. (Then, of course, there are the neighboring Italians in the village, who, like the weather, are not always reliable.) But on Olympus, the rains come--there's a flood--and ""Life is not exactly what it was."" A religious, ritual procession, soaked in rain and antiquity, plows on magically and miasmically; a Madonna weeps ketchup tears for lost babies; an English waif with child awaits her terrorist lover; hijacking rumors buzz on; and with the rains, all comfort steams away. A baby enters, and then slides out of, Fanny's arms; Will releases Forster with relief; Jay and Lisa will find some affectionate souvenirs; an old companionship is rippled by diversions; and others will doff surmise for plain truths. An acute, often quite funny, rueful lesson in the laughable futility of arranging for safety and predictability in a risky, teetery world.

Pub Date: Jan. 26, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Beaufort

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1986

Categories: FICTION