Summers in Supino

June 24, 2013
Colletta McLean writes a vivid memoir of holidays she and her husband Bob spent in the small village of Supino, Italy (also featured in her previous memoir My Father Came From Italy). She quickly transports readers into the charm and richness of village life â terra cotta rooftops, hills of beech trees and vineyards, cascading azaleas, friendly neighbors, bountiful gardens, and village shops. Readers can vicariously breakfast at Bar Italia with cappuccinos and cornettos, collect fresh bread and groceries from the street market, attend festivals in the surrounding villages, dine on local specialties, and experience the intricacies and eccentricities of Supinese life. As Bob and Maria's love for the place and the people grows, they begin to dream of living half of each year there. Bob decides to leave his business in Toronto in order to open his own café in Supino. That dream is scuttled when he is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, but the tragic turn also reveals how the summer visitors have become citizens. Bob is mourned as a "son of Supino." The idyll becomes a story of love and family. As a Supinese friend tells Maria, âWe are with you, ogni momento, ogni giorno, every moment, every day." Agent: Carolyn Swayze (Apr.) U.S. Distribution: Independent Publishers Group.

June 1, 2013

Canadian writer McLean continues the charming tales of her annual vacations to Italy she began in My Father Came from Italy. Rural Supino, southeast of Rome, is full of the down-to-earth characters and humorous events readers have come to expect in travel memoirs, and McLean and her husband, Bob, find themselves both overwhelmed and enchanted by their Italian neighbors. Plans to take a day trip, remodel their tiny patio, or even dine are routinely upended by their friends. As the newcomers learn to appreciate Supinese ways, they find themselves becoming more Italian in their outlook and habits. Wanting to spend more than a few weeks each year in Supino, Bob makes plans to open his own coffee bar in the town square. VERDICT McLean's story begins and ends with personal loss, but the sadness is balanced with much optimism. Her moving story, full of fondness for the Supinese and love for her family, is a good choice for readers who share a longing to connect with their ancestral homes.--Linda M. Kaufmann, Massachusetts Coll. of Liberal Arts Lib., North Adams

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