Chasing The Italian Dream by Jo Thomas published by Corgi Books

Chasing The Italian Dream – written by Jo Thomas and published by Corgi

I have been on many holidays with Jo Thomas, she’s taken me to a German Christmas market, to some gorgeous lavender fields in France, and now this time, she has whisked me away to a small village in Southern Italy, introducing me to all her friends on the way. This time, no Air B&B was needed as we stayed with Lucia and her Nonno and Nonna.

Lucia is a lawyer working tirelessly for her firm in Wales – while she is waiting for an email to ping into her inbox to tell her she’s been promoted, she takes her annual holiday to visit her grandparents who run a pizzeria in a small village just outside Naples. Whilst there, she receives two bits of life changing news…she was overlooked for the promotion at work, and Nonno has decided to retire and as there is no male in the family who wishes to take over the running of the business, he is forced to sell up. When Lucia’s ex husband turns up the story really gets going!!

This was such a lovely, pure story about families, friends, community and love and with the dreaded pandemic at the back of everyone’s mind, this was also a true antidote to the travel ban that we are all living under, and so it was fantastic to be able to “travel” to this quaint region in Italy. Jo has a wonderful talent of placing you smack bang in the middle of the piazza, so that not only can you hear Angelo singing every morning, but you also feel the ambiance of the town, the clatter of the chairs and tables being set up outside the restaurants and the smell of the marvellous food being prepared in fact I’ve still got the smell of fresh basil up my nose!!

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