The Young Italians - Softcover

Prantera, Amanda

3.11

9 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747543135 ISBN 13: 9780747543138

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1999

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When young, beautiful, and very English Irene arrived in Florence in 1928 to stay with her aunt, she had no idea that Italy's seduction would be so powerful, nor that she would be married within six months. Nor did she imagine that it was only the beginning of her experience of love Passion comes in many forms - one of them adulterous.

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Review:

Winter 1928. Irene's grandmother--who brought her up--has just died. She's 19, and on her way to Florence, where she'll live with her Aunt Frances. Aunt Frances is a snob and hugely proud of her Wednesday night salotto, during which a lady oboist, a breeder of cocker spaniels, "the estranged wife of some obscure Florentine count" and their like are forced to recline � la Turque' on bizarre furniture.

Irene, shy, tongue-tied and distinctly unimpressed by the fourth-rate creatives and celebs her aunt courts, is not a salotto success. To get her out the way, Aunt Frances engages in some systematic matchmaking. But she's horrified when, instead of just being absent on Wednesday evenings, as intended, Irene gets married. To a chemist's son! An act by which, Aunt Frances says, she'll be "signing her social death warrant".

The Young Italians--by novelist Amanda Prantera, who went to Italy for a short holiday at the age of 20 and is yet to return--is not so much a coming-of-age tale as a coming-to- consciousness one. Prantera skilfully traces Irene's growth into sexual, political and emotional awareness, as she embarks on an intense, adulterous affair and all the horrors of Fascism start to manifest. A beautifully crafted, compelling read. Lisa Gee

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