What I enjoyed most about this love story, set in both Florence and Australia, was the depiction of the life of an Italian family set around their love for Italian food—who cooked it and who ate it, where it was eaten, and from where in the family history the recipe had come.
The Promise (Lisa Clifford, Macmillan, $30 tpb, ISBN 1405036303, October) ***
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What I enjoyed most about this love story, set in both Florence and Australia, was the depiction of the life of an Italian family set around their love for Italian food—who cooked it and who ate it, where it was eaten, and from where in the family history the recipe had come. Dashing out for a good Italian meal came to mind often while reading this book. Lisa Clifford left Sydney at the age of 16, to visit Italy and her sister who was working there. Soon after arriving she met the young medical student Paulo, who was to become the love of her life. Both struggled with their cultural differences—his role as the provider in a traditional Italian family provoked many fraught and humorous moments. Over the 10 years covered by the book there are many goodbyes, as she becomes homesick and returns to her family. His visit to Sydney only confirms the culture clash, so he returns to Florence. This entertaining book can be easily recommended to readers of travel biographies like Almost French, and should also appeal to young adults who are perhaps considering the gap-year experience.
Meredith Wright is the owner of Daltons Books in Canberra
This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2004, Thorpe-Bowker