A HOLE IN THE WATER

A new widow ventures to Italy seeking romance, renewal, and her long-lost daughter, in a second novel from Briskin (The Tree Still Stands, 1990).

Anne is an independent, spirited, 67-year-old TV producer with a cable show dedicated to issues of concern to women. With her late husband, she had taken many trips over the last decade to Florence, where their runaway teenaged daughter Susan had last been seen. Anne never found Susan, but she had found passionate, scar-faced Vincenzo, the guide who aided the couple in their always futile searches. With no love in her life at present, Anne decides to go to Florence once more to see whether the sparks she had sensed before in Vincenzo can be fanned into flame. They can and are, but there’s a problem: Vincenzo’s wife, who has Anne to dinner and proves to be loyal and caring, even if somewhat condescending to him. Despite her misgivings, Anne signals to Vincenzo that they should proceed, and so they sneak off to his hilltop Tuscan hideaway to start their tryst. For both it is everything they’ve waited for, but the weather and Vincenzo’s family obligations keep them from getting together often during Anne’s stay. On the day before she’s to return to California, they are able to meet again, but the mood this time is one of desperation, as Vincenzo demands that Anne postpone her departure. Then, miraculously, Susan walks in front of their car as they stop for gas—her two sons in tow.

The author tends to tell rather than show, but all the same her complex story is insightful in its portrayal of an older woman still able to experience life in all its pleasures and pain.