"fine Amalfi tour"

In Chicago, though two years have passed since her beloved husband Alex died in a car crash, Lamour Harrington still mourns her loss. Lamour sees the irony that he was the second man in her life to die in a tragic accident as her father Jonathon was killed in a boating incident off Italy's Amalfi coast. To survive she buries herself in her work as a landscape architect, but refuses to allow anyone even a dog or cat into her life because loved ones die. Only her childhood friend Jammy Mortimer pushes Lamour to join the living; her spouse Matt coaxes Jammy to tell the total truth to Lamour about Alex.

Already thinking of returning to the place she was happiest, Amalfi, Jammy's revelation is the final impetus to get her to move. Lamour travels to Italy to learn what led to her beloved artistic father's death and to recapture the magical happiness that has left her bereft. The truth may be freeing, but in spite of meeting Lorenzo Pirata and his adult son, Lamour is unsure that she wants to know the secrets of her heart and that of the HOUSE IN AMALFI.

Whether it is Tuscany, Province or now Amalfi no one serves as a better tour guide of Mediterranean Europe than Elizabeth Adler is. Readers feel they are seeing lush gardens, sharing wine or eating pizza in a remote village cafe as she paints a fabulous landscape. The characters are fully developed with Lamour severing as a terrific focus to the Amalfi tour while the support cast either provides insight into her or into the locale. Once again readers will be transported to another place by the magic of Ms. Adler.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 16, 2005

Summary

With her 16th novel, Adler (Last Time I Saw Paris, etc.) once again brings a far-flung locale to life with escapist flair, taking the reader—along with the questing heroine—on a trip to the coast of southern Italy. Two years after her husband's unexpected death, landscape architect Lamour Harrington suffers more heartbreak when she learns of his infidelity. So she sells her apartment and, along with her dear friend Jammy, leaves windswept Chicago for balmy Italy, where she hopes not only to alleviate her recent grief but also face other ghosts of her past. When she was 17, her father, a novelist, died in a mysterious boating accident while they were living on the Amalfi coast. Seeking to recover her spirit and understand her father's death, she returns to the house they shared. Near the azure waters of the Mediterranean, Lamour's grief begins to lift immediately, especially after she reacquaints herself with the area's charms, including men eager to woo her. But her neighbors seem to know something about her family's past, and she begins to unravel the events leading to her father's death. Despite clunky dialogue, the novel engages with a light story and luscious descriptions of food and scenery.