My love for Italian culture stemmed from reading plenty of fiction which was based in that country. This book is the epitome of my Italian fantasy. The story line is quite simple and doesn’t have much to go on so to say, but the narration and characterization is way too good.
Our protagonist Sophia succumbs to the sorrow of losing her parents. Having raised by a mother who loved the Italian culture, Sophia connects with her mother’s Italian muses and heads on a path of self-recovery. She goes to Italy to study art and connects with every important historical moment her mother had told her about when she grew up.
My want to visit that beautiful place filled with such rich history increased leaps and bounds after reading this book. The crux of the story is rather simple – a girl on a road to recovery with memories of her mother which intertwine with Italy’s rich history. The story contains major chunks of interesting history of Italy’s famous persona like actress Sophia Loren, Michelangelo, DaVinci, Garibaldi, Dante Alighieri and Casanova. Then there are the others whom I hadn’t know of – Marcello Mastroianni, Simonetta Vespucci, Eleonora De Medicim Lucrezia Borgia, Lorenzo de Medici, Filippo Brunelleschi and Giuletta Capuleti. The story itself is divided into 8 parts featuring various states of Sophia’s life featuring each of the above mentioned persona who help her out in times of trouble. It is apparent that the writer knows her history well and is familiar with even the most vivid detail of all the sights mentioned in the book. With such lush narration and vivid description, this book is dream come true for me. In fact, Sophia is such an inspiration for me to step up and work towards my dream of learning Italian and visiting the country. In spite of being so beautiful, the writer hasn’t described the real ugly face of the city. However, this can be overlooked. After all, some positivity doesn’t hurt.
The cover and the section covers deserve a special mention. While the cover it was just perfect, the short comment mentioned by another writer it spoiled it for me a bit. The section art work in black and white, with write ups, were brilliant. Given that this is an ebook, the writer had provided links for songs and other tidbits of information. I made a colossal mistake of reading this book on my kindle and couldn’t visit the links. Planning to re-read this book on my tab so that I can go check out all songs and other interesting information she has linked up.
MY SAY: One beautiful book.
RATING: 5/5
About the book
GENRE: Fiction
NUMBER OF PAGES: 232
FORMAT: Digital
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: Review copy from Italy book tours.
BOOK LINKS:
Ciao Jan, Thank you very much for your review of my novel Dreaming Sophia and for sharing it with your readers. I enjoyed reading your thoughts about the story . It makes me very happy that Sophia’s story resonated with you. I am also very pleased that it has inspired you to travel to Italy and learn more Italian language. That is the very reason I wanted to write the book.
ReplyDeleteAll my best. I understand this is a very exciting, busy and happy time for you! Grazie! Melissa
Ciao Jan, Thank you very much for your review of my novel Dreaming Sophia and for sharing it with your readers. I enjoyed reading your thoughts about the story . It makes me very happy that Sophia’s story resonated with you. I am also very pleased that it has inspired you to travel to Italy and learn more Italian language. That is the very reason I wanted to write the book.
ReplyDeleteAll my best. I understand this is a very exciting, busy and happy time for you! Grazie! Melissa
Ciao Jan! I would like to be entered into the giveaway to win Melissa's book. Grazie! - Kasey Clark Kasey.v.clark@gmail.com
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