Would you marry a stranger, an heir to a fortune, for a year to fulfil an ancient marriage clause? What if the year was to be spent in Italy enjoying the wealth of the D’Adamo estate and you’d receive a life-changing sum for your trouble? This is the plot for this delightful book.
Sarah is an event manager in Sydney who loves yoga and being creative. However, she suffers from endometriosis and her partner has just left her due to fertility issues. She’s very wounded, broken and more than happy to short circuit her life, hoping to use the money to start her own family.
Matthew is a stressed executive who works in Singapore and is married to his job. They meet on Zoom, get married and travel to Italy to fulfil the D’Adamo marriage clause, only to be met with another potential heir. A challenge is set to both couples and the heir will be determined at the end of the year.
This is a delightful read, well written but light and airy, almost like the breeze at the Italian villa. Lo Bianco clearly lives and breathes Italy and her love and respect shine on the page. The characters are all interesting and well developed and the story never falls into the predictable. It has a pantomime quality with a villain that you want to hiss at when he appears and there are plenty of fairy godmothers who arrive to help along the way.
The endometriosis storyline feels perhaps a bit left-field, but I understand the author’s desire to shine a light and try to normalise this condition that affects so many women.
The Italian Marriage is a most enjoyable read.
Reviewed by Nicola Skinstad
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jenna Lo Bianco is ‘The Italian Teacher’, a passionate ‘Italianist’, and also a writer, educator, PhD Candidate and advocate for Italian language education in Australia. With nearly sixty publications to her name, Jenna is trusted nationally and internationally to write about all things ‘Italian’.
She is a Fellow of the International Specialised Skills Institute and Italian Australian Foundation, regular contributor to Segmento magazine and has written and consulted in educational publishing for more than a decade. Jenna may appear to live in Melbourne, but her heart and soul are Rome’s most permanent residents.
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