KEY POINTS:
I must be one of the few people who found Marlena de Blasi's best-selling A Thousand Days in Venice irritating. There was almost no sex, a thin and unsatisfying love story, unlikeable main characters - even de Blasi's descriptions of Italian food did not excite me. But this book, which has been interspersed with two others,Tuscan Secrets and An Umbrian Love Story, is different.
The title may sound a little Mills and Boon, but de Blasi hits new heights of fiction in this unpredictable, unbelievable story. The main action takes place in a ruined castle in Sicily where dozens of widows knead ciabatta, thrust handfuls of wild herbs and garlic into the eviscerated cavities of fresh-slaughtered lambs, smash purple-skinned heads of garlic and smear it over the inner surfaces of artichokes and more.
De Blasi and her infuriating husband are there on the sidelines, but thankfully in bit-roles while the glory goes to the love story of Leo and the motherless Tosca. It is as though de Blasi's editors have told her to let herself go.
The storyline is strong and romantic, verging on South American-style magic realism. The writing is overblown but satisfying nevertheless. There is even a little eroticism.
The plot is set against the background of around 40 widows, most of them young, curvaceous and sexy who spend their time doing womanly things. They braid their hair, cook fabulous dishes of aubergine and artichokes harvested from their own farm, all the time chanting, praying, having fun.
And in the hands of de Blasi the whole thing is rich, spiritual and sexy. But it is the love story of Leo and Tosca played out against a background of ululation that holds this overblown book together, and does it masterfully. Tosca is bold and beautiful.
Leo is kind and handsome and intensely spiritual - apparently it's a Sicilian trait. We follow their amazing exploits, blown along by this evocative, mildly inspiring writing.
A great pre-Christmas escape.
* Carroll du Chateau is a Herald features writer.
That Summer In Sicily
By Marlena de Blasi (Allen & Unwin $37.99)