A PLACE OF REFUGE

In Cardillo’s fourth series installment, two wandering souls find comfort and romance with each other in Italy.

In 1970, polio survivor Izzy Monroe was in a nearly fatal car accident that left her with severe memory difficulties. The following year, she remains miserable, convinced that her dreams of earning a Harvard University doctorate in American literature and writing a great novel are impossible. Her friend and college roommate Maria suggests that Izzy escape to an Italian farm, owned by Maria’s archaeologist grandfather, Raffaello Richetelli. Izzy says goodbye to her parents’ home on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts and heads to a Tuscan farm to join a group of student interns. There, she struggles to keep her memory lapses a secret while tending to a garden and caring for pigs. Then she has a chance encounter with Raffaello’s grandson Daniel, a New York City–based Jesuit priest who’s visiting while he mulls over leaving the priesthood. Although the two fall in love almost immediately, Daniel’s guilt makes him reluctant to dive deeper into their relationship. Both he and Izzy focus on the archaeological dig on Raffaello’s land, which could unearth a sizable discovery, but they must decide if what they feel for each other is worth fighting for. Cardillo’s feel-good tale befits the tone of the overall series, which chronicles the lives of the members of the Monroe family; for example, the Richetellis and interns amiably welcome Izzy, who, even when angry, is never sarcastic or mean. She’s a remarkable protagonist, overall, who always keeps a notebook handy to jot down what she doesn’t want to forget. Daniel, too has an engrossing backstory and shares a few traits with Izzy—both are loners who suffer from insomnia—and they form a strong, believable connection. Cardillo’s prose breathes life not only into the characters, but also environments and objects, such as a bottle of Scotch “lurking in the bottom of the armoire.”

A memorable and well-developed cast enriches this rewarding love story.