Love Falls

September 10, 2007
Freud, who is Sigmund Freud’s great-granddaughter and Lucien Freud’s daughter, echoes some of the autobiographical material that enlivened her debut and biggest success, Hideous Kinky
, in this sixth novel. Lara, 17, is already a veteran of a transformative journey to the Far East with her mother as she sets out on a very different trip, from London to Italy with her reclusive father, Lambert. Lara’s adolescent turns of mind, her changing relationship with “Lamb” and her utterly contradictory (and utterly human) desires to be both in the world and safe at home make for a surprising and convincing character study. But Freud’s engaging, insightful writing is undermined by antique plot devices: is Lamb also the father of Kip Willoughby, the cute boy at the adjacent villa? Was Kip conceived in an act of sexual revenge? Did the Willoughbys’ grandfather once renege on a promise to bring Lara’s grandparents out of WWII Germany? Still, the soap-opera drama doesn’t ruin the book: one wants to remain with Freud’s lively voice and to see what Lara makes of it all.

November 15, 2007
Freud ("Hideous Kinky; Peerless Flats" introduces 17-year-old Lara, who, on the eve of the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, is invited by her father on an Italian vacation to visit the villa of his old friend. Raised by her Buddhist hippie mother, Lara had only infrequent contact with her emotionally remote father, and the invitation comes as a thrill. The Tuscan villa and its neighboring estates are worlds removed from Lara's shabby existence in England. First love finds her in the person of Kip, the son and heir of the neighboring villa, Ceccemoro. As the summer progresses, she is enveloped by his large extended family and soon becomes aware of the many sexual undercurrents around her. Lara gets swept up in these dramas as well as in the failing health of her hostess and the exciting preparations for the Palio, the centuries-old horse race that caps Siena's summer. A burnished glow suffuses this lovely novel about adult awakening. Enthusiastically recommended for public libraries.Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2007
Seventeen-year-old Lara is thrilled when her remote, scholarly father, Lambert, invites her to vacation in Tuscany, not least because of the opportunity it affords to get to know him better. Her parents never married, and she saw little of him as a child since her mother, something of a free spirit but continually short on funds, took her to a Buddhist center in Scotland and then India before settling in London.Despite herwell-traveled background, Lara ispainfully self-consciousyet eager to meet new people. Shesoon falls in with the well-heeled brood of a disgraced British aristocrat, occupants ofthe nearest villa. The glamorous teens, among them the handsome Kip, make the most of their time, seeking out clubs, horse races, and swimming pools.Larasdeepening romance with Kip, her increasing closeness to her dad, and thebeauty of her surroundingsare tempered by her sudden awareness of the sometimes selfish andsecretive lives of adults. Best known for Hideous Kinky (1992), another exotic coming-of-age novel, Freudonce again capturesthe excitement, confusion, andsensualityof adolescence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)