The Italian House - Hardcover

Crane, Teresa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312139926 ISBN 13: 9780312139926

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1996

Synopsis

Offered a chance to become independent when she inherits a villa in Tuscany, Carrie Stone is eager to renew her childhood friendship with her cousin Leo and is unwittingly led into a web of deceit.

About this title

About the Author:

Teresa Crane has always wanted to write. In 1977 she gave herself a year to see if she could, and since then has published numerous short stories and twelve novels. She lives in Essex.

From Publishers Weekly:

In early December 1922, oppressed, unhappy young British wife Carrie Stowe inherits the beloved Tuscan home of her grandmother. This windfall gains her, through the intricacies of Italian testamentary law, a short respite from her punctilious and vaguely sinister husband, Arthur, for she must claim her bequest in person. When she arrives in Italy, she finds Leo, her first cousin and childhood companion (who's been disinherited for the sins of his father), in the house. Delighted, she asks him to stay and help her. He does, and among the gewgaws and priceless objets d'art, they succumb to a forbidden passion. Carrie's grandmother's faithful nurse, the ancient Maria, inveighs against this doubly sinful love affair, warning that it's likely to call up demons of the past. For grandmama had a guilty secret-one that has already cost one life. In comparison with Crane's vividly characterized Freedom's Banner, this work suffers from Carrie's sentimentality and incredible naivete. Leo, hardened by his experience in WW I, intrigues, but his dark side remains too mysterious, as does the fascinating and poorly developed grandmother, who could have carried the book. For all its faults of character and tone, the plot-involving revelations of murder, bigamy and greed-is solid, and the descriptions of the Italian landscapes and seasons are positively lyrical.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0312139926
• ISBN 13: 9780312139926
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 284