The Irish Signorina

Still shaken by her mother's death, Anne accepts an invitation to visit the Cavalcantis at their family villa in Tuscany in order to satisfy her lingering curiosity about Cosimo, her mother's ex-lover and a friend of the Cavalcantis\nFrom Publishers Weekly\nA finalist for England's Booker McConnell Prize, O'Faolain (The Obedient Wife) writes with sensuous elegance and an awareness of human fallibility. Her new novel begins when a young Irish woman, Anne Ryan, arrives at the Florentine villa of Marchesa Niccolosa Cavalcanti. Anne's late mother had been a hired companion to the Marchesa's daughter, also now dead, which is why the guest accepted the invitation from the old and ailing lady. Longing for a romance of her own, Anne mainly wants to find out more about the affair between Mrs. Ryan and Cosimo, the Italian she had talked of often and wistfully. Guido, the Manchesa's married son, pursues Anne and she falls in love with him, ignoring warnings from Niccolosa. These and other arresting characters in the novel become embroiled in situations arising from political and familial intrigue. O'Faolain's tart, taut prose will mesmerize readers, but they could be frustrated by the rather ambiguous conclusion.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.\nFrom Library Journal\nAnne Ryan's return to the Italian villa where her mother served as a companion precipitates a romance with her mother's former lover, involves her in an Italian political crisis, and ends with her inheritance of the villa. O'Faolain (daughter of Sean O'Faolain and author of No Country for Young Men and other books) takes these staples of romantic fiction and, with a deft and acid twist, fully exposes the human side of the drama. Masterful characterization, especially of minor players, is her forte; the portraits of Niccola, the aging marchesa, and Bonaccorso, who has loved her platonically for 50 years, are bittersweet. Perhaps deliberately, Anne's romantic interest, Guido, remains a cipher, and Anne herself seems more misguided than is strictly necessary. The intelligent woman's alternative to the fake romance of Harlequinreality, with all its twists. Highly recommended. Shelley Cox, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.