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When Nicky Pellegrino's Italian father came to England he fell in love with and married a Liverpool girl. He brought to his new family his passion for food and instilled in them what all Italians know - that you live to eat instead of eating to live. This Italian mantra is the inspiration behind Nicky's delicious novels. Every summer the family left their home in Merseyside and returned to her father's home town, near Naples, in southern Italy. When Nicky met and married a New Zealander she moved to Auckland where she works as a journalist and edits a woman's magazine. She hoards her annual leave so that she and her husband can return to Italy to meet up with her family and to eat the best mozzarella and research her books.
'This isn't a mid-life crisis OK? For a start I'm not old enough yet to have one of those. I'm calling it a happiness project. I've stolen an entire summer from my life and by the time it's over I plan to leave this place with a list in my hand. The ten things that make me happy, that's all I want to know. How difficult can it be? They may be small things - a perfect cup of coffee, a day without rain - or bigger ones. It's still the beginning so how can I know?' Addolorata Martinelli knows she should be happy. She has everything she thought she wanted - her own business, a husband, a child. So why does she feel as if something is missing? Then when her restaurant, Little Italy, is slated by a reviewer, she realises that she's lost the one thing she thought she could always count on, her love of food. So Addolorata heads to Venice for a summer alone, aiming to find the ten things that make her happy.
'This isn't a mid-life crisis OK? For a start I'm not old enough yet to have one of those. I'm calling it a happiness project. I've stolen an entire summer from my life and by the time it's over I plan to leave this place with a list in my hand. The ten things that make me happy, that's all I want to know. How difficult can it be? They may be small things - a perfect cup of coffee, a day without rain - or bigger ones. It's still the beginning so how can I know?' Addolorata Martinelli knows she should be happy. She has everything she thought she wanted - her own business, a husband, a child. So why does she feel as if something is missing? Then when her restaurant, Little Italy, is slated by a reviewer, she realises that she's lost the one thing she thought she could always count on, her love of food. So Addolorata heads to Venice for a summer alone, aiming to find the ten things that make her happy.
Rich with passion, sunshine and humanity this is a heartfelt page-turner about learning to live again and, of course, mouthwatering food! In the sun-drenched Sicilian hills four women, all at turning points in their lives, learn lessons of a lifetime at a very special cookery school.
August 2013 Book of the Month and eBook of the Month. Rich with passion, sunshine and humanity this is a heartfelt page-turner about learning to live again and, of course, mouthwatering food! In the sun-drenched Sicilian hills four women, all at turning points in their lives, learn lessons of a lifetime at a very special cookery school.
July 2013 eBook of the Month. A captivating tale of love and music, food and passion. Take yourself on a journey to Rome in the 1950s, a city of beauty and heartbreak, at one of the most glamorous points in its magical history. The author has a real talent for making the sunshine of Italy shine from the pages.
September 2012 Book of the Month. A captivating tale of love and music, food and passion. Take yourself on a journey to Rome in the 1950s, a city of beauty and heartbreak, at one of the most glamorous points in its magical history. The author has a real talent for making the sunshine of Italy shine from the pages.
This is a cracking, beautifully paced read to curl up with either instead of taking a holiday or while on holiday. It's a story of friendships, of passion, of family secrets and love featuring four friends, a sun-drenched escape and a holiday that will change everything...possibly forever.
July 2011 Book of the Month. This is a cracking, beautifully paced read to curl up with either instead of taking a holiday or while on holiday. It's a story of friendships, of passion, of family secrets and love featuring four friends, a sun-drenched escape and a holiday that will change everything...possibly forever.
A love of food and the warmth of Italy shine out of this story. Told in alternating chapters between a young, hurt and lost English girl and an Italian mama, this involving family drama is a joy. Full of incident and great characters, it is a lovely read. You will also enjoy Summer at the Villa Rosa by the same author. Comparison: Adriana Trigiani, Joanne Harris, Christobel Kent. April 2010 Good Housekeeping selection. The Good Housekeeping view... Recipe For Life is a slice of sunshine from Nicky Pellegrino. Traumatised chef Alice flees London and heads to the coast of Italy, where she bonds with ageing local Babetta, discovers the joys of Italian food, and finds out what she really wants out of life. Dear Reader,I’m writing this on a damp autumn day in London, but thanks to the book you’re looking at now, I feel like I’ve just stepped inside from the Mediterranean sun.Half the pleasure of reading comes from being transported to a different place or time, and meeting a string of new people there. And with Recipe for Life, it’s an incredibly welcome journey. The story of two women, at either ends of their lives, who meet at a crumbling Italian villa tucked into the cliffs above the pounding sea, it’s a novel about what we run from, and the places that make us stop and reconsider. Drenched in sunshine, it’s about friendship and growing up, food and love.If you’ve read one of Nicky’s novels before, you’ll know her deftness of touch, vivid atmospheric writing and dangerously mouthwatering descriptions of food. They’re all here in abundance. If you’ve not read one before, I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.So if you’re in need of an escape, you’re invited to a place under a pomegranate tree in southern Italy where secrets spill out and the nights are warm. All you need to remember is that, like all the best recipes, sometimes the best things happen when you don’t follow the instructions…Happy reading,Genevieve PeggSenior Commissioning EditorOrion Fiction
March 2010 Editor's Choice. Nicky Pellegrino has a knack for transporting you in to the Italian countryside, smelling and tasting the air and the food and feeling the sun on your face. Another lovely tale of relationships, friendships and discovering what life is all about. April 2010 Good Housekeeping selection. The Good Housekeeping view... Recipe For Life is a slice of sunshine from Nicky Pellegrino. Traumatised chef Alice flees London and heads to the coast of Italy, where she bonds with ageing local Babetta, discovers the joys of Italian food, and finds out what she really wants out of life. Dear Reader,I’m writing this on a damp autumn day in London, but thanks to the book you’re looking at now, I feel like I’ve just stepped inside from the Mediterranean sun.Half the pleasure of reading comes from being transported to a different place or time, and meeting a string of new people there. And with Recipe for Life, it’s an incredibly welcome journey. The story of two women, at either ends of their lives, who meet at a crumbling Italian villa tucked into the cliffs above the pounding sea, it’s a novel about what we run from, and the places that make us stop and reconsider. Drenched in sunshine, it’s about friendship and growing up, food and love.If you’ve read one of Nicky’s novels before, you’ll know her deftness of touch, vivid atmospheric writing and dangerously mouthwatering descriptions of food. They’re all here in abundance. If you’ve not read one before, I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.So if you’re in need of an escape, you’re invited to a place under a pomegranate tree in southern Italy where secrets spill out and the nights are warm. All you need to remember is that, like all the best recipes, sometimes the best things happen when you don’t follow the instructions…Happy reading,Genevieve PeggSenior Commissioning EditorOrion Fiction
A lovely book about two feuding families, a wedding and blossoming love that needs a helping hand. This is the perfect book to give you that feel-good, warm glow that comes with reading a good romantic novel. We can see the film rights being snapped up as it would make a great film about friends, family and love.
There seem to be more and more novels around that evoke a sense of place by cleverly focusing on food and drink from the region, but then isn’t that half the reason we love to go on holiday, and this book certainly transports you to the beautiful southern region of Italy. Romantic and charming this is a great book for the summer evenings. Filled with food, love and longing, SUMMER AT THE VILLA ROSA is like taking a seat in a sun-drenched piazza, and becoming a tiny part of the endless spectacle of life there.
The title says it all for this is Italy and food, emotions and secrets, loyalties and a sense of place as three generations of women escape or return to this bewitching southern region. A really pleasant, comfortable, dual-time tale.Comparison: Joanne Harris, Elizabeth Buchan, Sarah Harrison.Similar this month: Sara MacDonald, Lisa Jewell.
My heart is less than 1% of my body, it weighs hardly anything; it is only a tiny piece of me, yet it is the part everyone finds most interesting. Vivi Palmer knows what it's like to live life carefully. Born with a heart defect, she was given a second chance after a transplant, but has never quite dared to make the most of it. Until she comes face-to-face with her donor's mother, Grace, who wants something in return for Vivi's second-hand heart: her help to find all the other people who have tiny pieces of her son. Reluctantly drawn into Grace's mission, Vivi's journalist training takes over as one by one she tracks down a small group of strangers. As their lives intertwine Vivi finds herself with a new kind of family, and by finding out more about all the pieces that make up the many parts of her, Vivi might just discover a whole new world waiting for her...
Live your dream of Italy... Here is your chance to buy your own home in southern Italy for less than the price of a cup of coffee. The picturesque mountain town of Montenello is selling off some of its historic buildings for just ONE EURO each. The only conditions are that purchasers must renovate their new home within the next three years and that they plan to contribute in a meaningful way to this small community. To be considered as a future resident of Montenello contact the town's mayor, Augusto Rossi. Live your dream of Italy for just one euro. When the Mayor of a picturesque Italian town launches a new scheme to rejuvenate the community, his advertisement is read with interest and excitement by many. Zara is in her thirties and desperate to get on the property ladder. Tim and Lynda are retiring and need a project. Some are looking for a peaceful bolthole. Others hope to make a profit, start a business, escape a dull life or an unhappy relationship. And there is someone who just might be hiding their true motivation... Their lives are about to change forever - but can they make their dream of Italy into a reality? A deliciously escapist summer read.
'Lyrical, heartrending and compelling' JOJO MOYES on Recipe for Life Kat is an adventurer, a food writer who travels the world visiting far-flung places and eating unusual things. Now she is about to embark on her biggest adventure yet - a relationship. She has fallen in love with an Italian man and is moving to live with him in Venice where she will help him run his small guesthouse, Hotel Gondola. Kat has lined up a book deal and will write about the first year of her new adventure, the food she eats, the recipes she collects, the people she meets, the man she doesn't really know all that well but is going to make a life with. But as Kat ought to know by now, the thing about adventures is that they never go exactly the way you expect them to... ****** 'Warm, engaging and truly delicious' Rosanna Ley, author of The Little Theatre by the Sea 'A delicious and sensual adventure' Fiona Gibson, author of The Woman Who Met Her Match 'Wonderfully evocative' Pamela Hartshorne, author of The Cursed Wife
Stella has life under control - and that's the way she likes it. For twenty-five years, she's been trusted assistant to a legendary fashion designer but after her boss dies suddenly, she's left with nothing to do apart from clear the studio. It seems as though the life she wanted has vanished. She is lost - until one day she finds a house swap website and sees a beautiful old villa in a southern Italian village. Could she really exchange her poky London flat for that? But what was just intended as a break becomes much more, as Stella finds herself trying on a stranger's life. As the villa begins to get under her skin, she can't help but imagine the owner from the clues around her. She meets his friends, cooks the local food he recommends and follows suggestions to go to his favourite places. But can an idea of someone ever match up the reality? As Stella wonders if she can let go of the safety of her past, perhaps there's a chance for her to find a way into her future . . .
Four delicious novels of love, food and Italy...This collection comprises DELICIOUSSUMMER AT THE VILLA ROSATHE ITALIAN WEDDINGRECIPE FOR LIFE
Love, food and Italy - a delicious novel from the author of THE FOOD OF LOVE COOKERY SCHOOL. Italy, 1964. Maria Domenica is the eldest daughter in the Carrozza family from the tiny southern village of San Giulio. At 16, Maria's life is limited to the confines of her mother's rural kitchen (where she bakes bread every morning, the way the Carrozza women always have), and the Caffe Angeli, a place of friendship, strong espresso and famous ricotta sfolgliatelle. Her parents have high hopes for their beautiful first-born, but she has other plans. Maria runs away to Rome but, a year later, she returns to San Giulio in disgrace - eight months pregnant with the identity of the father a mystery. Hastily, shamefully, she is married off to a neighbour's son. But she soon escapes again, this time to England, where she searches once more for a new life for herself and her daughter, Chiara. Many years later, it is Chiara, not Maria, who finds herself drawn back to San Giulio. But she soon discovers that the simple Italian life she seeks is not as simple as it seems - particularly where the past is concerned.