I was very excited to receive a review copy of the book ‘The Divorced Lady’s Companion to Living in Italy’ by Catherine McNamara.  This book tells the story of Marilyn Wade recently separated from her husband who has found someone else, and the crisis that she spins into.  She does not want to stay at home in her house depressed by the fact that her husband has left.  No, she wants to go and have an adventure in Italy, like she believes Jean Harper her icon did.

Here is a quote from the book: ‘We turned into a narrow bar with a swarthy man going through the noisy process of producing twin thimbles of espresso coffee.  He disengaged the percolator, slammed the old coffee into a shute at his hip, shoved it into an upturned funnel where a fresh portion of coffee was pressed in, then whacked the percolator back into the machine and supplied two crisp white cups before the hot black trickle commenced‘.

(image taken from www.faema.it).

With these words I felt like I was transported into a bar savouring the moment when my espresso coffee hits the cup and the barman hands it to you.  The following phrase is written on one of the coffee machines in Capodimonte:

‘L’espresso “quello buono” si beve solo al bar’.

Good coffee you drink only at a bar.  Marilyn does get a taste for coffee.  She develops a taste for coffee with grappa.  She has numerous adventures along the way.  The storyline was also unexpected in regards to what happens to Marilyn at certain times during the book.

The books was loads of fun.  There were moments when I laughed out loud!

I highly recommend that you read it for yourself, you will not be disappointed.