This novel takes place in two time frames, when Gracie is young in her early twenties when she is living in Italy and also in the present day when she embarks upon a bonding holiday with her estranged family. Oh yes it will, maybe not this year, but one day when it’s really important. You know the tree knows which wishes to grant and which wishes to ignore.’ And she patted it fondly. An enchanting read overflowing with deliciously poignant moments’ DINAH JEFFERIES on Songs of Love and War Next, there was the relationship between Gracie, her daughter (Carina), and grand-daughter (Anastasia). At the core, this is a story about three generations of women. Carina is a rather uptight businesswoman who's married to her job, leaving her little time for her mother, husband, or teenage daughter. Understandably, Anastasia has some resentment toward Carina, preferring the company of her father or cell phone instead. There is obvious tension between the women at the beginning of the novel but when Carina decides to join Gracie for the trip to Italy, and Anastasia comes along, things slowly start to change. I adored their changing relationship and character arcs in general, especially Anastasia's.

Jose taught me how to play polo, which was rare for a girl in those days. The boys hated me playing because I was better than some of them, and certainly better than a girl should be. They used to do it as children, too. I’m sure their scars are still here if we look for them,’ added Maria enthusiastically When I asked him why she had changed, he replied that life had been a disappointment. ‘The storm’s still there, but I can’t see the sunshine pushing through no more.’ I wondered why life had so disappointed her. Only a child, you patronizing oaf?’ she retorted, pretending to be cross. ‘I’ll be sixteen in April. That’s only three months away, then I’ll be a woman.’

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De manier van opbouw is subliem. Ook word er niet geschuwd om ietwat zwaardere thema’s te verwerken in het boek. Deze thema’s worden op zo’n manier verteld dat ze toch regelmatig aan de ribben blijven plakken. I loved Gracie from the start, and I enjoyed the village characters she had made her life among. From the pomposity of Flappy Scott-Booth who was everything her name suggests, to the gossipiness of Harry Pratt (who it transpired had a pretty big secret of his own). Her life in the little seaside village she'd been part of for 40 years was far removed from the life she'd led before she married Ted.

When Anna Melody married Paco and left Glengariff for ever, she barely cast a thought to her parents who suddenly found themselves alone in a home with only her memory to comfort them. The house became cold and dark without their beloved Anna Melody to warm it with her laughter and her love. Emer was never the same after that. The ten years that she suffered without her daughter were empty and soulful. Anna Melody’s frequent letters home were filled with assurances that she would visit, and these promises kept her parents’ hope alive until they knew in their hearts that they were shallow words written without thought or indeed, intention. Slap me with a kipper, Anna Melody, but the sooner you stop putting words into God’s mouth and take responsibility for yer moods the happier yer gonna to be.’ urn:lcp:meetmeunderombut0000mont_h7p5:epub:e361c973-7a9d-448b-9192-1635820cff9f Foldoutcount 0 Identifier meetmeunderombut0000mont_h7p5 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2mg1tv267z Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781471132124Thanks to my pleasurable reading experience with this novel, someday I am definitely going to read more of Santa Montefiore’s works. The first thing that jumped out at me were the warm characters, they were relatable and so easy to visualise. I couldn’t help but giggle at the group of ladies from Badley Compton as they attempted to stage an intervention. No, I don’t – but if you do end up playing it will have nothing whatsoever to do with magic. Foul play, manipulation – they’re more your style. Poor Paco’s wrapped around your little finger and he doesn’t even know it.’ Anna Melody was named after her mother, Emer Melody. Dermot loved her ‘tuneful’ name so much that he wanted to call their baby simply Melody O’Dwyer, but Emer thought Melody on its own sounded like the name you’d give a cat and so the child was christened Anna after her grandmother. Het verhaal speelt zich af in Argentinië. Een Argentinië die op een manier verteld word dat je zin krijgt om persoonlijk het land te gaan verkennen. Niet enkel het de schoonheid van het land word in woorden omgezet , maar ook de manier van leven word gedetailleerd weergegeven.

En cuanto a sus protagonistas, tengo que decir que la protagonista femenina nunca llegó a provocarme nada, en cambio, el protagonista masculino me resultó mucho mas interesante, así como los personajes secundarios. I was glad to that a certain storyline regarding Gracie's uncle was included, it didn't feel patronising or unrealistic in any sense of the word. I will say romance, forbidden love, heartbreak and playing a dangerous game all form part of Gracie's secret. I very much enjoyed all of this but would have liked even further development on the romance front. As for Gracie in the present and her ending there was a very surprising element which when revealed helped me make sense of some things I had found confusing while reading. But still I would have loved to have heard from a certain character which would have allowed for some filling in of the gaps with regard to the missing years. Maybe the novel was a bit predictable in some regards, but it didn't honestly spoil the experience for me. I was *rooting* for my predictions to come true, expecting they would, but hoping they'd come faster. I’d rather go and see La Vieja Bruja in town. That old witch has more chance of directing my future than this silly tree.’Sofia on the other hand had two elder brothers, Rafael and Agustin, who made up the four players of the team. Rafael also played a four-goal and Agustin a two. Sofia, much to her fury, was not considered. Santa Montefiore's new book The Temptation of Gracie takes the reader on a journey to the Tuscan countryside as one woman attempts to reconcile the past with the present. It is a story of love, loss, friendship and family set over the period of one week during a holiday away in a beautiful castle where the main characters embark on a cookery course. The author weaves the past with the present to convey the story as our main female protagonist Gracie is forced to confront what she has kept hidden deep inside her for so many years.

My grandfather, Dermot O’Dwyer, never did believe in the magic of the ombu tree. That’s not to say he wasn’t superstitious, he used to hide his liquor in a different place every night to fool the leprechauns. But he just didn’t see how a tree could possess any kind of power. ‘A tree is a tree,’ he’d say in his Irish drawl, ‘and that’s all there is to it.’ But he wasn’t made from Argentine soil; like his daughter, my mother, he was an alien and never did fit in. He didn’t want to be buried in our family tomb either. ‘I came from the earth and to the earth I’ll return,’ he was very fond of saying. So he was buried on the plain with his bottle of liquor – I guess he was still anxious to outsmart those leprechauns. Gracie is in her late sixties and has been a widow for almost ten years. While she is at her hairdresser’s she sees a photograph of a place she knew well at one point in her life – a time of her life that she has kept secret for more than 40 years. Something compels her to return and in the process of making her plans, Gracie’s estranged daughter and grand-daughter get involved and her solitary journey becomes a threesome. Tussen Santi, haar neef en Sofia groet iets meer dan vriendschap. Als ze zwanger raakt, wordt ze door haar vader en moeder naar het buitenland gestuurd om abortus te laten plegen. Sofia is echter helemaal niet van plan om de zwangerschap te beëindigen. Zij wil, samen met Santi, ergens een nieuw bestaan opbouwen, met de baby. Er komt echter een spaak in het wiel (de brieven worden onderschept) en allebei denken, dat de ander toch niet zo verder wil. Sofia geeft uiteindelijk haar baby op voor adoptie en vertrekt naar Londen om daar werk te vinden. Beiden trouwen en stichten een gezin. Als dan Maria, de zus van Santi op sterven ligt, schrijft de moeder van Maria haar een brief of ze toch na al die jaren niet afscheid kan nemen van Maria. Als ze terug is in Argentinië, blijkt, dat de liefde nog niet over is. Op Santa Catalina hoort ze, na zoveel jaar, ook wat er van haar eerste zoontje geworden is. I really wanted to love The Temptation of Gracie as I have been a big fan of Santa Montefiore for years and years but this story simply didn't blow me away and have me lost in its content. Gracie came across as very weak in the present day and then seemed to be so strong and willing in the past. How could someone have changed so dramatically? At times it felt like I was reading two separate stories and a successful emergence of the two didn't occur. It's a nice enough summer read but not the most memorable from this author. Ahora bien, en cuanto a la historia en si, el libro es bastante largo y sobre todo la primera mitad se me hizo un poco tediosa, ya la segunda mitad es más ágil y entretenida, es un libro que transcurre en muchos años y se pone mas interesante a medida que sus personajes van creciendo.When I asked my father how come the military had so much control, he told me that it was partly due to the fact that it was the Spanish military who conquered Latin America in the sixteenth century. ‘Consider the military like school prefects with weapons,’ he once said, and as a child this seemed to make sense. I mean, who’s more powerful than that? I don’t know how they did it with all the chopping and changing, but my family was always canny enough to stay on the right side of whichever government was in power. Gracias, Soledad. We will not wait for Señorita Sofia but eat as normal at nine,’ she replied and disappeared inside to talk to her sister-in-law. Santa Montefiore is vooral gekend onder de vrouwelijke lezers, maar hier volgt de recensie van een mannelijke lezer. The Temptation of Gracie is such an emotive read. With 68 year old Gracie’s stable and predictable life in Badley Compton a world away to the experiences she had as a teen/young woman, during the week at the cookery school in Castello Montefosco her past emerges as she confides in granddaughter Anastasia. From not knowing each other very well at all, they realise how similar they are (in more ways than one!). And as much as Anastasia is there for Gracie, Gracie is also the confidant for Anastasia. I adored the developing bond with these two. Several years ago I was intrigued by Santa Montefiore’s first three novels, which I have never read as they never became available to me in sequence. This is Santa Montefiore’s newest novel, and my first reading of her work.