The Villa in Italy

 

The Villa in Italy / Elizabeth Edmondson
London: HarperCollins, c2006.
426 p.

I picked this book off the shelves of my library, after discovering that this author is another pseudonym for the author also known as Elizabeth Pewsey (and Elizabeth Aston, and Gally Marchmont) who I recently discovered. And more on her later! 

This is the only copy of one of her books, under any name, in my library's collection. So I read it. I enjoyed it - it's set in the 50s, obviously mostly in Italy! A woman named Beatrice Malaspina has died and left legacies to four strangers, who are all summoned to the Villa Dante. The conditions for receiving their legacy is that all four will arrive at the Villa and stay there for 33 days together, looking for the codicil that will explain everything. 

We meet Delia, a British opera singer who is suffering from bronchitis which is obviously pretty detrimental to her career - she brings along her friend Jessica, who is eager to get out of London and the scandal of her separation from her war hero husband. 

They arrive first, but shortly after two other Brits arrive together, although by chance - they don't each other or Delia either. Marjorie is a prickly and private woman, a detective writer who comes from the lower classes and resents Delia and Jessica for their rich lady airs. She's suffering from writer's block, which is her burden. But she also senses more than what is obvious to the eye, and comes out with sudden insights that make the others a bit uncomfortable. 

George is the third person there; he's a quiet scientist who carries the heavy guilt of having worked on the development of the atom bomb during the war. While he's a man with a rigorous scientific mind, he also has another side, having been brought up in a Jesuit school.

And finally, days after all the Brits arrive, Lucius rolls up. He's an American, more casual and authoritative than they are, a banker in the family tradition although he'd rather be an artist. He also carries psychological burdens from his war experiences in Italy, which turn out to be more connected to the other people at the Villa Dante than he'd known. 

So you have all four of these troubled strangers gathering in a villa owned by someone none of them had ever met (to their knowledge), and a puzzle set for them to solve. But unlike a Christie novel, there's no murder and mayhem among the small group, rather, they start to build tentative friendships and confess their longings for their lives to one another. 

There's enough plot and development to keep the story moving -- uninvited and unwelcome guests at the end, a McCarthy-like goverment offical interrupting their idyll -- but the heart of the book lies with the characters. These four (plus the fifth wheel, Jessica) are all very different but their unhappinesses are rather the same. 

There are interesting twists and the conclusion is not the easy one - there is no Noah's Ark style pairing off of all concerned. I appreciated that there was more complexity to the storyline in this way, and the story left me with a satisfied feeling. Lots about music and art in this story, as seems to be common in this author's work, and questions of responsibility and human feeling, as well as various family struggles. Really great summer read, with a little more heft than a beach read but also a lovely Italian setting to relax into as a holiday of sorts. Quite enjoyable & I wouldn't hesitate to read another by this author.