Bowen uses the ubiquitous dual timeline to tell this story that spans three decades: 1944 to 1973. Joanna finds some papers among her late father’s effects that indicate he had a love affair with a woman in Italy while serving as an RAF pilot in WW2. Sir Hugo’s estate has previously been sold and he’s been living in the gardener’s lodge while teaching art at the school that has purchased the estate. He has very little to leave his daughter, but the love letter she finds references “our beautiful boy.” Could she have a Tuscan half-sibling? Joanna feels compelled to travel to the area where her father’s plane went down to find his lost love, Sofia, and to get answers to what really happened during the war.

This was a fun fast read with some intrigue to go along with the romance. I loved all the references to food (and definitely want to try to re-create some of those regional dishes that featured so prominently). The conclusion seems a little rushed and too pat for my tastes. But I still enjoyed the book. ( )

This book turned out pretty good. I won it off a Goodreads giveaway and knew very little about it, so I was concerned it might turn out to be overly sappy once the story turned to reminiscences about the main character's lousy experiences in the girls' school her family home turned into. But, once she gets to Tuscany the story changes character abruptly and becomes more of a murder mystery, making up for any overly sentimental bits earlier. While not the 'recipes included' type of book, this novel also includes quite a lot of tips about cooking Italian food within the character dialogue, not enough to be overwhelming, but enough to allow readers to feel inspired to make some tasty Italian food to eat while reading. So, I definitely recommend this one to folks who like historical fiction, food-oriented fiction, and light murder mystery.
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I like easy to read fiction

I enjoyed the storyline well enough, but most especially appreciated the descriptions of the scenery and food! I figured it out a few chapters before it was revealed. ( )

I don't generally like books that skip b.c. ack and forth in time but this was well-done ( )

Conflicted. It started as an interesting tale of a woman who never knew the father who just died, but turned into a hidden item mystery, then a murder mystery. Oh, and a bit of romance as well as the alternating chapters between the father as a young Brit pilot shot down in Italy in WW II. That’s a lot of ingredients and while the first two thirds were well done, it just turned into such a mass up that had to tied up in a neat little package that it was disappointing. So the three stars are for the beginning and middle and the rest was frustrating- watching (reading?) the book’s death spiral. ( )