The Man from Tuscany

by Catherine Spencer

The Past: It's 1939, and eighteen-year-old Anna meets Marco in Italy. They fall madly in love, a love she knows will last forever. Even though, within months, they're separated by war. Even though she's told that Marco is dead.?

The Present: Anna, who'd entered into a marriage of convenience, is widowed, and so is Marco. Long after the war, she discovered that he'd survived. Now she wants to return to Italy, to Marco, for one final visit.

The Future: Anna's adored granddaughter, Carly, accompanies her?and when Carly begins to fall for Marco's grandson, she wonders if they can have the life together their grandparents never could.

Genres: Harlequin, Ebooks, Romance

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

About the author

In the past, Catherine Spencer has been an English teacher which was the springboard for her writing career. Heathcliff, Rochester, Romeo and Rhett were all responsible for her love of brooding heroes! Catherine has had the lucky honour of being a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist and has been a guest speaker at both international and local conferences and was the only Canadian chosen to appear on the television special, Harlequin goes Prime Time.

Reviews

[Pravana · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome book!!!!!
Hats off to the author for pulling this one out. And what an innocuous title for the book. It totally belies the treasure that is inside.


I wouldn’t call it a typical Harlequin or Mills and Boon romance, but the way the book has been written is simply too good.
In fact I would go on to say that this is more Anna’s story than Carly’s story.
The author herself quotes “ The Man from Tuscany is Anna and Marco’s story, and is about always having enough. The human heart has an infinite capacity for love in all its guises. It is not always convenient, often not easy and sometimes demands a terrible price from those who embrace it. But it binds us as wives, mothers, daughters, friends and lovers. It makes us fallible and gives us our humanity.”
It’s written in the form of an autobiographical memoir and for most part is from Anna’s point of view.
It starts with the present when Anna decides to embark on what would probably be her last journey to see her “One True Love”. She is 83 and her love Marco is approximately 4 years older. Her granddaughter Carly accompanies her on the trip. Anna narrates the whole story to her granddaughter Carly on their long journey from Boston in the US to Florence in Italy.

This book is also a historical in the literal sense as the story line is interspersed with the history of the events that took place in the past. The author has smoothly woven the news which would have made headlines at that time into the story without it detracting from the main story.
I must confess that I’m not a fan of books where the major portion of the story is in the form of a flash back and I must say that as the first flashback began, I almost didn’t continue reading!! What a loss it would have been.

As the outset, I was also initially as sceptical about the “One true love” as Carly was.......and as the story progressed, just as Carly’s mindset began to change, so did mine. Full credit to the author for so skilfully drawing out the narrative.
The story ends on a bittersweet note leaving you feeling sad and happy at the same time.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 ½ Stars

Grab the tissues for this so beautifully written love saga will have the tears flowing. Bravo to Ms Spencer. Anna and Marco's love journey is an everlasting one and it has deeply touched me. Written from Anna's point of view as she tells her granddaughter of the six decade long secret love affair with a man who lives an ocean away. And now, Anna seeks Carly's help to cross that ocean once more for the last time. This is a poignant, powerful love story.