The Temptation of Gracie

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The first few chapters describe Gracy’s present life. A kind-hearted woman, loved by everyone in the book club. Her snobbish friends consider her to be an old soul leading an abandoned life. For her ambitious daughter Carina,Gracie is just an ordinary woman without any ambition and never led an extraordinary life. Honestly, in the beginning, I had to agree with Carina. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about Gracie! By and by I realized the REAL Gracie. Dinah Jefferies' stunning new novel is a gripping, unforgettable tale of a woman torn between two worlds...

The Temptation of Gracie - AbeBooks 9781471169618: The Temptation of Gracie - AbeBooks

This was an easy read. It definitely makes me want to travel to Italy - which has always been on my list of places to see. 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. Gracie tells Carina that she is going to go to Italy and Rufus suggests that she and Anastasia accompany her. One thing that fell short for me was the romance from Gracie’s past. I wanted to be swept away by this storyline, and I wanted to believe in a youthful passion so strong that Gracie still remembers it 40 years later. And to some extent, the affair was passionate. Gracie was certainly in love with a wealthy, powerful man, and he broke her heart (of course) due to external circumstances beyond his control. But I never quite bought into his love for Gracie (at least until the very end of the book, where it was a bit too little, too late). He makes Gracie do something that she feels conflicted about, and the way he convinces her to do it anyway made me wonder if he liked her for herself or for what she could do for him (in this case, have revenge on a greedy family member).

This book is the perfect beach read. Set in Tuscany it really makes you think of holidays and sunshine. It is obvious throughout this novel that Santa Montefiore spent time in Tuscany herself. The romantic and vivid ambience is described so well I felt that I was there and drinking it all in. The story is tastefully written (and I’m not just talking about the food) and vibrant in sound, colour, and taste – a true feast for the senses. Secrets are revealed of a past that know one could even guess at and Gracie is just not the person they all thought they knew. I also wasn’t a fan of the subplot featuring a busybody from Gracie’s village in Devon, who wanted to organize a grand funeral for another resident, but hated not having Gracie around to do the grunt work. This character and subplot bookended the main story, and while it added atmosphere as well as provided insight on Gracie’s life in Devon, it just dragged on too long, particularly at the end. I would have much preferred to see how Gracie’s life turned out myself rather than hear about it secondhand in the midst of a flurry of activity over a funeral for someone we never even met. Tuscany is what led me to this novel, and the story that takes place mostly in Tuscany is what kept me there.

Book Review: The Temptation of Gracie – The Creative Muggle Book Review: The Temptation of Gracie – The Creative Muggle

July 1981. As the country prepares to celebrate Prince Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana, Libby wants to be as far away from royal wedding fever as possible. Her only family – daughter Carina and granddaughter Anastasia – are hesitant about what has prompted this seemingly random venture. But they have no sense of Gracie’s past; of what could possibly be calling her to Italy. They have no idea that Gracie is harbouring the secret of an extraordinary life that preceded them . . . Ideea de bază a romanului este aceasta – ca să fii fericit în prezent trebuie să fii împăcat cu cine ai fost și ce ai făcut în trecut. Greșelile nu se repară de la sine, iar timpul nu aduce întotdeauna cu sine uitarea. Trebuie să-ti faci curaj și să îți înfrunți slăbiciunile. On the other hand, Gracie has more than a cooking class in her mind. A hidden past which was buried under her for 40 years, unknown to both her family and friends.Born in England in 1970 Santa Montefiore grew up on a farm in Hampshire and was educated at Sherborne School for Girls. She read Spanish and Italian at Exeter University and spent much of the 90s in Buenos Aires, where her mother grew up. She converted to Judaism in 1998 and married historian Simon Sebag Montefiore in the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London. They live with their two children, Lily and Sasha in London. 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. R.F. Kuang, Sue Lynn Tan, Rebecca Ross, Kate Heartfield, N.E. Davenport, Saara El-Arifi, Juno Dawson and Sunyi Dean