Summer in Tuscany

July 1, 2002
Veteran novelist Elizabeth Adler (The Last Time I Saw Paris) returns to the Continent with Summer in Tuscany, a cute and painfully predictable romance. Frumpy ER doctor Gemma Jericho is divorced, pushing 40 and none too happy about it. Her mom, Nonna, persuades Gemma and Gemma's 14-year-old daughter to travel to Italy when Nonna learns she has inherited an old villa. But when they get there, another American, roguishly handsome Ben Raphael, has already claimed ownership; of course, romance blooms as they wrangle over the property. Gemma alternately gripes, swoons like a teenager and consumes a lot of gelato; locals behave colorfully; and everyone is paired off neatly at the end. Author tour.

April 1, 2002
Gemma, an overworked ER doctor, her mother, Nonna, a typical Italian widow who spends her week cooking the Sunday supper, and daughter Livvie, a punked-up but well-adjusted teen, are living normal, unexciting lives in New York City until Nonna receives a letter informing her of an inheritance in her childhood village of Bella Piacere. The letter launches the Jerichos into situations both delicious and funny in a novel in which romance is detailed as vividly as the landscape of Tuscany. Gemma becomes embroiled in a mystery with the intriguing Ben Raphael, while Nonna is transformed and charms a man from her youth, and Livvie has a ball with Florence's dashing teens. Adler, author of "The Last Time I Saw Paris" [BKL Mr 1 01]\plain\f2\fs24\b \plain\f2\fs24 and many other novels, reveals a deft hand in creating characters to cheer for and settings to dream over in this deeply appealing story of love, family, and the beauty of Italy. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)