Review Here:

https://nordie.wordpress.com/2021/08/05/book-review-chasing-the-italian-dream-by...

Review Here:

https://nordie.wordpress.com/2021/08/05/book-review-chasing-the-italian-dream-by...

A new Jo Thomas book is always a highlight of the year for me and I was so looking forward to picking up Chasing the Italian Dream. After all, it's set in Italy which is one of my favourite places. It's no surprise that I loved it.

Lucia is a business lawyer in Wales and as the story begins she's about to head off for her annual holiday with her father's family in a small town near Naples. She's hoping to hear about a big promotion while she's there. In the meantime, she's looking forward to spending time with her grandparents, Nonno and Nonna, and eating pizzas in Nonno's pizzeria, a traditional restaurant with the role of the pizzaiolo being passed down from father to son. What she isn't expecting is to run into her estranged husband, Giacomo, and to end up trying to save the pizzeria.

There's a lot of girl power in this book. It's not traditional, especially in small towns, for a woman to be a pizzaiola and so Lucia finds herself up against it but loving making the pizzas the restaurant is known for. I loved how she just got on with it and also found herself empowering other women too. The story is lovely, a real sense of Lucia going back to her Italian roots and learning exactly what she wants from her life.

As always, the two things that stand out the most are the food and the setting. Thomas is an expert at describing dishes and ingredient combinations that set my mouth watering and mean I can practically smell the fresh tomatoes that have grown under the Italian sun, or smell the cheese bubbling away on the tops of the pizza. She also deftly ensures that I want to visit whichever setting she's writing about and she put me right there in the heart of the town with Angelo serenading everyone with his opera singing as each new day dawns, the farms that supply fresh food to the restaurant not too far away.

I thought Chasing the Italian Dream was a wonderful read, dreamy in fact! I've been fully immersed in Southern Italy whilst wondering where Thomas will take me next. I can't wait. ( )

Looking forward to news of a promotion at her law firm, Lucia decides to take her usual fortnightly holiday in Italy at her grandparents’ house. She discovers her grandfather is retiring and that he is thinking of handing over the family pizzeria business to her soon to be ex husband. This compels Lucia to rethink her own plans for the future but will they be realised?

This is a lovely, lighthearted and well written read with some lovable and realistic characters. I loved the descriptions of Italy and the food. It made me feel hungry just reading it! I would love to visit ‘Nonno’s’ and try some of Nonna’s special tomato sauce. I could virtually smell the pizzas! It’s a charming story, one to get lost in. A great bit of escapism and very heartwarming - I always know I’m in for a treat when I read a Jo Thomas book. ( )