LOST IN THE SPANISH QUARTER

A coming-of-age novel about falling in love and what happens next.

Years removed from college, Heddi, an American living abroad, receives an email from Pietro, her first true love. Goodrich’s debut novel, which she wrote in Italian and translated herself into English, juxtaposes emails between the ex-lovers with Heddi’s memories of studying in Naples. Full of cigarette smoke, homemade pasta, and sun-kissed youth, Heddi lives in a rickety old building in the Spanish Quarter. Naples—an aging city full of life, love, and danger—is a fully drawn character: the eye-watering smog; the domestic disputes that spill over into courtyards; the smells of cooking wafting into the streets. Heddi and Pietro’s love blossoms fast—a shared bed becomes a shared apartment becomes a shared life. The novel renders first love in all its lust, beauty, and heartache. The relationship comes alive through small details, as when Heddi describes Pietro’s habits: “the courteous way he always put down grocery bags, like he was afraid to bruise the pears.” The couple dreams about getting married and traveling the globe after graduation. In their insular world, they are unable to see the things threatening to tear them apart: duty, sickness, and cultural differences. Goodrich is a talented writer and keen observer. In one scene, Heddi looks out the window and notices: “It was still early and the neighborhood was making only muffled little noises as soft as slippers.” Unfortunately, the novel tends to meander and becomes overcrowded with similes; too many pretty comparisons end up undercutting the beauty of Goodrich’s prose. That being said, the novel soars when describing youth—and the loss of it: “Our fears only increased our pleasure, for, though we were already adults, we were experiencing a moment of teenage desperation that soon we wouldn’t have to have—or get to have—ever again.”

A portrait of first love, nostalgia, and regret that sometimes sags under its own weight.