I think one of life’s greatest pleasures is picking up a book at random and absolutely loving it. This is what happened for me with Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer. I was immediately transported into summer in Italy. This book felt like drinking a glass of wine with a loved one during golden hour on the deck of a restaurant overlooking the Amalfi Coast. Even more than it’s longingly beautiful descriptions of Positano in June, Serle’s writing managed to describe grief over the loss of a loved one that hit just right for me. In the story, Katy Silver has just lost her mother, her best friend in the world, her self-proclaimed soulmate. The book begins on the last day of sitting shiva for her mother, and the first day of her marriage’s potential end. If your mother is your soulmate, when she is gone, who is your husband? This is an issue Katy grapples with alongside her grief for her mother, spiraling into doubt about her life with her husband and the fact that she has never really been an adult without him, as they met in college and have been together ever since.
When Katy arrives in to Positano, starting the would-be mother-daughter trip of a lifetime by herself, she quickly realizes something is off. Her mother is there.
But that’s impossible, right? One would think so, but alas, here was the 30-year-old version of Katy’s mother, Carol, and they became fast friends. How is Katy supposed to heal from the loss of her mother if she is right here in Positano?
Throughout the summer Katy learns more about her mother than she ever knew before. It’s almost like this 30-year-old version of Carol was an entirely different person than she knew her whole life, she can’t get enough of it. However, eventually Katy starts putting together the pieces and realizes that everything is indeed not what it seemed. Devastated at first by this realization, Katy comes to appreciate the time she had with young Carol, and it helped her through her grief in ways she never expected.
“You must miss her," I say. "Of course, yes, but this is life, no? You miss. We miss. It is okay."
As Katy describes her wonderful Jewish mother, parts of her personality reminded me so much of my last Jewish grandmother. Because of this, I think I loved this book more than I could have imagined. It felt like a beautiful representation of my own missing her, mixed with escapism to the stunning Amalfi Coast. Though I have always wanted to visit Italy, this book moved it up to the top of my list.
“I can’t imagine that people built this place. It feels like it’s always been, I don’t know, undiscoverable. Like it’s always just existed exactly as it is today.”
One Italian Summer had glittering oceans, golden buildings, pasta and wine, moments of steamy summer romance, and most of all a beautiful tale of a mother and daughter. I could not recommend this book more for your next summer read.
Rating: 5/5 espressos during sunrise
xx, Lauren
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