The Italian Girl

Lucinda Riley has become one of my favorite authors; I am particularly enjoying her series of novels called The Seven Sisters. This one however is not a favorite.

As Riley explains in the foreword, her publisher asked to re-publish some of her earlier works - now that she has become a bestselling author. (After all, it’s another revenue stream, right?) This novel is among those early books. Riley says she did some rewriting and editing, but it’s clear to me this is an earlier work.

It’s simply less polished. The plot is less sophisticated. Riley doesn’t yet trust the reader to figure things out from the characters, and, instead, has to spell out everything she wants you to know. Even the dialog is flatter than what I have come to show more expect from her more recent novels.

The story however is engaging and will keep you reading to the end. It begins with 11-year old Rosanna Menici, just discovering her exceptional singing voice. Though living a very modest life with her family in Naples, Italy her older brother Luca manages to help Rosanna access singing lessons and she grows up to become a successful opera star.

Most of the book, however, focuses not on her voice and career, but on her lifelong love for older, already-established opera star Roberto Rossini. Theirs is an all-consuming passion, which turns out to have significant drawbacks, particularly for Rosanna. I don’t want to spoil the book, but I’m sure you can probably imagine what some of the plot twists will be.

At the same time, in a secondary plot, Rosanna’s brother Luca is trying to figure out whether he has what it takes to become a priest, with all the sacrifices required. And Rosanna’s older sister Carlotta (the beauty of the family but a more minor character) lives with the consequences of one big mistake made when she was in her late teens.

The book covers about 15 years. You’ll learn a bit about the world of opera. And a little about the behind-the-scenes shady deals that can happen in the art world. But mostly it’s just about people dealing with everyday life — success, commitment, friendship, family, illness, death, and love. Perhaps if I hadn’t read so many of Riley’s more recent books, I would have rated this higher. But, there you go. show less

***spoilers alert***

I love the cover, I did choose the book not because of the cover but the aim to read all of the books written by the writer.

Omg, what a drama! Yes, drama and still I read all the book, it's a fast read, loads of dialogues...and important side characters. But the writer has better writing style with the series of Seven Sisters ( I am absolutely not happy that there will be TV series based on the books as I would hate if they ruin the Seven Sisters books...) this is very poor comparison to those, I am happy this is not the first book I read by her as if I would - I would not try to read any other. This book takes place in present time, no two time scale plots - past and present.

I have mixed opinions about the book, show more although it was interesting it was pretty much predictable, and shows the reader the stigma what happens when you grow up and don't get explanations of what happens to your family members. You may be 7 or 11, but when grownups only finds excuses and tells you - you are too young to understand it's a direct way for worst scenarios later on, I mean, seriously, if one doesn't explain the situation, cause, outcome and the solution - how can one learn or try to avoid something like that?

The plot has created not only the main focus on Roberto and Rosanna, but also to Rosanna's siblings, parents and her best friend. It is a story about very traditional family who struggles by male- dominant father - all family members are expected to work and live and connect their lives to the restaurant their father owns. The idea is not bad if we think about it but the attitude is, and pf course, it doesn't work and children only dream to collect the money and get away...one way or another.

I had trouble with liking the main male character Roberto, the womanizer, who has too weak personality to be a man, let's be honest. He fall in love with her unique voice, he wanted to marry her not because of her personality, but because of his ego-centrism and selfishness that Rosanna will be together with somebody else. Later on as well, the relationship is basically moving on but he is still the same, he doesn't adapt to her needs and mind development, he doesn't get responsible. All world must turn around him - they don't travel back to Italy for years, she is giving up her dreams for him, she is giving up her family and he knows it(!) and still he has balls even to persuade her to travel with him, leaving a sick son at home alone. Roberto has no limits, let's not even mention his cheating activities. But I loved the the final turn of this obsessive relationship.

To summon up - it is a read when you are on the way to kill time, it is a read if you are ready for high drama and full of emotions, but I am glad I am not owning my own copy. show less

Another Wonderful read by Lucinda Riley! This is one of the last books on my list of one of my favorite writers. After hearing that she passed away, I truly cried to myself, selfishly knowing that I will truly miss having a new great read. Italian Girl is another great read, so easy to immerge myself in and walk along with the characters and feel the intensity of the emotion of her characters. I had mixed feelings of the main character Roberto I also had a love hate relationship as a reader, but I love Luca, Rosanna, Abby and Steve. Great Love Story of how Love can be so strong that as it nourishes one, it also destroys.

Rosanna Menici es muy joven cuando conoce a Roberto Rossini, el hombre que le cambiará la vida. En los años siguientes, sus destinos se verán entrelazados por sus extraordinarios talentos como cantantes de ópera y también por su incombustible pero obsesivo amor, un amor que acabará afectando las vidas de todos los que los rodean. Porque, como Rosanna descubrirá poco a poco, su unión está marcada por terribles secretos del pasado...

Desde las pintorescas calles de Nápoles hasta los deslumbrantes escenarios de los más prestigiosos teatros del mundo, el viaje de Rosanna es una emocionante historia de pasión, traición y autodescubrimiento.

Again a wonderful, but different novel from Lucinda Riley. Takes the reader inside the world of brilliant opera singers, the years of training, the long periods of rehearsals, the performances, the lives they lead, the travel, the tension ....... everything!

Ništa nije tako slatko kao ljubav i tako gorko kao izdaja.

Dirljiva i nezaboravna priča o ljubavi, izdaji i samootkrivanju.

Rozana Meniči je obična jedanaestogodišnja devojčica koja voli da peva. Kada je čuje porodični prijatelj, operski pevač milanske Skale Roberto Rosini, predviđa joj blistavu karijeru. Rozana ne gaji lažne nade. Njena porodica nije u mogućnosti da plaća skupo školovanje, ali sudbina joj je naklonjena i njen brat pronalazi način da joj ostvari san.

S vremenom se Rozana zaljubljuje u Roberta. Njihova ljubav je iskrena ali opsesivna, te burno utiče na njihove karijere i živote njima bliskih ljudi, pogotovo kad Rozana otkrije događaje iz prošlosti koji mogu uništiti njenu sreću.

Mala Italijanka je ljupka show more romantična priča koja prati Rozanin uzbudljivi život pune tri decenije i vodi nas sa napuljskih ulica i iz milanskih crkava u mirno englesko selo i u neke od najvećih operskih kuća na svetu.

„Brza, okupana sunčevom svetlošću Italije i jarkim svetlima pozornica, prožeta glamurom, intrigom i romantikom, Mala Italijanka je savršena knjiga za opuštanje.“
– Leigh Reporter show less

Autorka bestseler serijala Sedam sestara

Ništa nije tako slatko kao ljubav i tako gorko kao izdaja.

Dirljiva i nezaboravna priča o ljubavi, izdaji i samootkrivanju.

Rozana Meniči je obična jedanaestogodišnja devojčica koja voli da peva. Kada je čuje porodični prijatelj, operski pevač milanske Skale Roberto Rosini, predviđa joj blistavu karijeru. Rozana ne gaji lažne nade. Njena porodica nije u mogućnosti da plaća skupo školovanje, ali sudbina joj je naklonjena i njen brat pronalazi način da joj ostvari san.

S vremenom se Rozana zaljubljuje u Roberta. Njihova ljubav je iskrena ali opsesivna, te burno utiče na njihove karijere i živote njima bliskih ljudi, pogotovo kad Rozana otkrije događaje iz prošlosti koji mogu show more uništiti njenu sreću.

Mala Italijanka je ljupka romantična priča koja prati Rozanin uzbudljivi život pune tri decenije i vodi nas sa napuljskih ulica i iz milanskih crkava u mirno englesko selo i u neke od najvećih operskih kuća na svetu.

„Brza, okupana sunčevom svetlošću Italije i jarkim svetlima pozornica, prožeta glamurom, intrigom i romantikom, Mala Italijanka je savršena knjiga za opuštanje.“
– Leigh Reporter

„Otkrijte zanosni svet opere uz Lusindu Rajli. Mala Italijanka zaslužuje veliki aplauz.“
– Book Trail show less