Last Voyage of the Valentina - Hardcover

Montefiore, Santa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743299434 ISBN 13: 9780743299435

Publisher: Touchstone Books, 2006

Synopsis

Exotically beautiful but desperately unhappy, Alba lives on a houseboat on the Thames, where she enjoys a life of leisure and entertains an endless and unfulfilling succession of lovers. Though irresistible to men, her striking Mediterranean features and fiery temper distance her from her father and stepmother's aristocratic and highly traditional English family.

When Alba discovers a portrait of her dead mother, Valentina -- a mysterious Italian beauty she'd hardly known, whose story has been kept from her by her still grieving father -- she is instantly shaken from complacency. Determined to learn the truth about Valentina, Alba returns to the olive groves of the Amalfi coast of Italy, to her mother's tiny village of Incantellaria, ignoring the friends and family who urge her to leave the past alone. Once there, Alba discovers cultural roots and the love of a new family, and begins to uncover wartime secrets protected for decades. Alba's quest to understand her mother's identity takes her beyond anything she could have imagined, revealing a mysterious tale of desperation, decadence, deception, murder, and betrayal involving partisans and Nazis, peasants and counts. Alba's journey leads her not only to the truth of her family's hidden past but to the possibility of love and happiness in her own future.

Last Voyage of the Valentina is a sweeping, romantic story that makes for a great escape for any booklover.

About this title

Review:

‘This is Santa Montefiore at her best – an enchanting read overflowing with deliciously poignant moments. If you love a heartfelt, epic trilogy this is for you. I loved it and can’t wait for more’ (Dinah Jefferies, author of The Tea Planter's Wife, on Songs of Love and War)

‘Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore. Everything she writes, she writes from the heart’ (Jojo Moyes)

‘A multigenerational banquet of love: falling in, falling out, rediscovering,rekindling. The Beekeeper’s Daughter features sophisticated, irresistible backdrops and brilliantly drawn characters that made it one of the most engrossing reads of my year’ (Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Matchmaker, on The Beekeeper's Daughter)

‘I raced through this feel-good romantic story, which spans continents and decades’ (Fanny Blake Woman & Home on The Beekeeper's Daughter)

‘This deeply romantic saunter is an ideal summer read. Laced with secrets and forbidden liaisons, it is sure to keep you turning the pages’ (The Lady on The Beekeeper's Daughter)

‘Santa Montefiore is the new Rosamunde Pilcher’ (Daily Mail)

‘A superb storyteller of love and death in romantic places in fascinating times’ (Vogue)

‘A gripping romance . . . it is as believable as the writing is beautiful’ (Daily Telegraph)

‘Anyone who likes Joanne Harris or Mary Wesley will love Montefiore’ (Mail on Sunday)

‘One of our personal favourites and bestselling authors, sweeping stories of love and families spanning continents and decades’ (The Times)

Book Description:

Escape with the perfect romantic getaway. LAST VOYAGE OF THE VALENTINA is the epic new romance from a dazzling author increasing her sales fourfold with each new hardback publication

About this edition

• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0743299434
• ISBN 13: 9780743299435
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 389