Review: The Italian Party by Christina Lynch

Title: The Italian Party
Author: Christina Lynch
Format: ARC
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publish Date: March 20, 2018 (Today!)
Source: Publisher

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Newly married, Scottie and Michael are seduced by Tuscany's famous beauty. But the secrets they are keeping from each other force them beneath the splendid surface to a more complex view of ltaly, America and each other.

When Scottie's Italian teacher--a teenager with secrets of his own--disappears, her search for him leads her to discover other, darker truths about herself, her husband and her country. Michael's dedication to saving the world from communism crumbles as he begins to see that he is a pawn in a much different game. Driven apart by lies, Michael and Scottie must find their way through a maze of history, memory, hate and love to a new kind of complicated truth."

My Two Cents:

"The Italian Party" is a multi-faceted story about Michael and Scottie, a young American couple who plan to honeymoon in Italy, which is still getting over World War II at the time. After a honeymoon, they will settle in Italy while Michael sets up a store to sell tractors to the Italian farmers. On the surface, it seems idyllic but Michael and Scottie are both hiding a multitude of things that threaten to upend their marriage. 

This book had so much going for it! Our main characters, Michael and Scottie, are great. Both of them are trying to come to terms with who they are. To some degree, Michael is hiding much more. He's hiding his employment. He's hiding what brought them to Italy. He's trying to hide his lifestyle. It was fascinating to see how both of the characters deal with these things in very different ways.

Another thing the book had going for it I don't think I could ever tire of reading about Italy. I especially loved reading about Italy in the 1950s as I don't think that I have read much about the rebuilding of the country after World War II. The historical detail that the author weaves in is really good and really helped make it easy to picture Michael and Scottie's new world. I don't want to give anything away but the parts about how Michael's personal life affected his public life was especially gripping and disheartening!

And I have to mention the food. Oh, the food! The food is so not supposed to be the focus of this book and the story line can definitely hold it's own against the food but I have to mention it. The descriptions of the lunches and dinners in this book are just want you want descriptions of really delicious food to be!

Overall, this was a great story!