The story starts in Tuscany in 1966 when a young girl, Floriana, meets Dante whilst peeping into the gardens of the Villa La Magdalena. Dante is the son of a wealthy family who live in Milan and spend the summer each year at their Tuscan family villa by the sea. Floriana has been abandoned by her mother who has run off with a tomato seller, taking her young son, but leaving Floriana behind with her alcoholic father. Dante invites Floriana, and her friend Costanza, to spend time at La Magdalena with him and his sisters. They all spend the summer together swimming in the pool and playing in the gardens.
Running alongside is another story set in Devon in 2009 where Marina and Grey Turner own and run a hotel called The Polzanze. Marina is searching for an artist to spend the summer at the hotel to give painting lessons to their guests. The hotel is struggling financially, she needs to encourage more guests or they can not afford the repayments to the bank. Marina has spent years refurbishing and building up the hotel. After interviewing a few people she finds an Argentine man, Rafa Santoro, to be her artist in residence for the season.
The stories move backwards and forwards from Italy, telling how Floriana waits for Dante's returns, to Devon where Rafa takes up residence at the hotel and catches the eye of all the local young women, including Clementine who is Grey's daughter and Marina's step-daughter.
I enjoyed the book, both timelines of the story were interesting and obviously towards the end we find out what the connection is between the events and people. The only other book by this author I have read is Last Voyage of the Valentina which I also enjoyed.
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