Italian Holiday
'As bubbly and enjoyable as a glass of Italian fizz' – Sunday Express
Sunshine, warmth, lemon blossom . . .
Springtime in glorious Southern Italy can go to your head. Especially if you are escaping an overbearing husband, the embarrassingly public loss of your company, an interfering mother who still tries to run your life or the pain of a husband's affair with a girl young enough to be his daughter.
As the Italian sun ripens the lemons in the groves that tumble down the hillsides and the Mediterranean dazzles beneath them, assertive Angela, extrovert Sylvie, unconfident Claire and mousy Monica find burgeoning friendship and begin to blossom in quite unexpected ways.
Packed with memorable characters – from the acid-tongued Grand Old Man of Modern Art who lives next door – to the aspiring gigolo who thinks nothing of a forty year age gap, Maeve Haran's An Italian Holiday is a witty and entertaining reminder of why going a little mad in the sun can sometimes be exactly what you need.
'Make sure of a happier holiday by packing this lovely novel in your suitcase' – Jilly Cooper, bestselling author of Rivals
Maeve Haran is an Oxford law graduate, former television producer and mother of three grown-up children. Her first novel, Having It All, which explored the dilemmas of balancing career and motherhood, caused a sensation and took her all around the world. Maeve has written a number of further contemporary novels and two historical novels, plus a work of non-fiction celebrating life's small pleasures.
Her books have been translated into twenty-six languages, and two have been shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year award. She lives in North London with her husband (a very tall Scotsman) and a scruffy Tibetan terrier. They also spend time at their much-loved cottage in Sussex.