Summer in Tuscany

Celeste Lawson captures the warmth and beauty of the Tuscan countryside and the charm of an Italian village with her narration of Adler's captivating story. Gemma Jericho, New York emergency room physician, has devoted herself to her work, her teenaged daughter and widowed Italian mother, and her vow not to have her heart broken again. When her mother is told that she's inherited a villa in Italy, the family goes to investigate, only to find that another American, an attractive man with a teenaged daughter, claims to have purchased the villa. Gemma's family cannot imagine the effect that this village, where their roots lie, will have on all their lives. Lawson's voice is warm and strong, gracefully voicing the Italian phrases and accents and the extremes of teen conversations. She brings alive the food, the people, and the relationships, making it difficult to stop listening. M.A.M. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

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.

October 6, 2003
When Gemma Jericho learns that her feisty Italian mother has inherited land in her Tuscan hometown, she reluctantly makes the pilgrimage to assess the new family compound. What awaits this over-worked single mother in the tiny, sun-baked village of Bella Piacere is the stuff of dreams: a band of friendly locals who unfurl their red-checked tablecloths for her welcome feast, a crumbling but stately villa that surpasses her expectations by a dozen rooms and even the possibility of knee-weakening romance. The audio version of Adler's dramatic tale breathes new life into the sumptuous backdrop and colorful cast of characters. Narrator Lawson is equally convincing whether she's channeling a cynical Manhattan teenager or a middle-aged Italian innkeeper—and this is no small feat given Adler's dialogue-heavy, regionally accented prose. The one weak spot in the performance is Lawson's depiction of Gemma Jericho's mother, Nonna, whose tired, gravelly voice hardly matches her spirited actions. Otherwise, this audio book will provide a delightful escape from the real world, where surprise inheritances rarely have the capacity to inspire such widespread excitement and transformation. Based on the St. Martin's hardcover (Forecasts, July 8, 2002).