The Florence Letter by Anita Chapman

 

                                                

Ebook:  343 pages      

Genre: Historical Fiction                                           

Publisher: Bookouture 24 June 2024

Source: NetGalley

First Sentence: Margaret Anderson sat at the desk, her dear cat, Mr Emerson, curled up in  the basket beside her.

Review Quote: ‘I was captivated from the very first page… Fascinating… Drew me into the book and kept me riveted to the page… So vivid and compelling, Anita has a real talent for creating wonderfully atmospheric dual timeline stories… Romantic and intriguing!’ Nicola Cornick, 

Setting: Surrey, England and Florence Italy

Main Characters: Margaret During WWII and Claire in 2015.

My Opinion: 

I have been following Anita Chapman on Social Media, as an aspiring author for some years. Just last year she had her debut novel  The Venice Secret  published, which I throughly enjoyed. So I am delighted that The Florence Letter has followed quickly.

A dual narrative with two female protagonists, Margaret during WWII and Claire in 2015. Their stories are a delightful romantic tale with some fabulous characters that together uncover some intriguing family secrets. To add to my reading pleasure both settings Florence and Surrey are familiar to me. I happen to have very fond memories of the property that the fictional Gatley Hall is partly based upon.

The author has certainly established herself as a writer of captivating stories with her first two novels. If you are a fan of historical fiction I can recommend you add her to your favourites list of authors.

It is with thanks to Bookouture, NetGalley and Anita Chapman that this title was made available for me to read and review.

 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Looking out over the twinkling city lights of Florence, Claire thinks of the letter that has brought her here. Written by a woman who escaped the Blitz, it holds a secret kept for a lifetime… but can Claire make the woman’s dying wish come true?Claire arrives at her new job as researcher at a grand English country house, nursing a broken heart. But tucked into the back of a long-forgotten drawer she finds a letter written in an elegant hand. It tells of a wartime secret about the beautiful Lady Violet – whose passionate affair with an Italian prisoner of war scandalised the village and ended in tragedy.Captivated, Claire promises to find Violet’s daughter, Tabitha, and reunite her with a priceless piece of her mother’s jewellery. With only the name of an Italian bakery, Pasticceria Mancini, to guide her, and the help of her handsome neighbour Jim, Claire travels to Tabitha’s last known location – Florence.Winding through the colourful streets, the sun warm on her bare shoulders, a tantalising scent of freshly baked bread floats on the air and Claire’s heart leaps at the sight of an ageing bakery Mancini. Although she learns that Tabitha hasn’t been there for many years, Claire refuses to give up. And as she and Jim talk late into the night over glasses of local chianti, Claire looks into his piercing blue eyes and finds herself growing closer to him…But when they finally track Tabitha down, it isn’t the happy reunion she expected and Claire is left reeling in the wake of discovering a devastating family secret.Violet’s story has an ending – but will the truth lead to forgiveness, or will it only bring more pain? And will Claire be forced to walk away from a chance of happiness with Jim at last?Escape to Italy in this gorgeous story of past and present colliding. 

Previous Review:  The Venice Secret

Author Profile:                

                                                                                                           

                                                        Courtesy of Amazon Profile

Anita Chapman enjoyed writing stories from a young age, and won a local writing competition when she was nine years old. Encouraged by this, she typed up a series of stories about a mouse on her mum’s typewriter and sent them to Ladybird. She received a polite rejection letter, her first.

Many of Anita’s summers growing up were spent with her family driving to Italy, and she went on to study French and Italian at university. As part of her degree, Anita lived in Siena for several months where she studied and au paired, and she spent a lot of time travelling around Italy in her twenties. 

Anita likes to read journals and diaries from the past, and one of her favourite pastimes is visiting art galleries and country houses. Her first published novel, The Venice Secret is inspired by her mother taking her to see the Canalettos at The National Gallery in London as a child. 

Since 2015, Anita has worked as a social media manager, training authors on social media, and helping to promote their books. She’s run several courses in London and York, and has worked as a tutor at Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Twitter Profile.  Anita Chapman - Facebook Profile.   Author - Official Website