Ebook: 454 pages
Genre: Historical Romantic Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Feb 2026 - Random House UK
Source: NetGalley
First Sentences: The bolt of satin rolled out along the length of the cutting table, ripples catching the light like the sparkling sea that lay beyond the window.
Review Quote: 'The beloved master storyteller Karen Swan takes readers to sun soaked Puglia in Three Summers. Evocative, romantic and atmospheric' - Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The View from Lake Como
Setting: Puglia, Italy
My Opinion:
Having last read a novel by Karen Swan back in 2020 during lockdown that was a beguiling love story I was expecting more of the same from ‘Three Summers’.
Set in Puglia, Italy over three summers in the late fifties and early sixties the story follows a love triangle between Rafaella Parisi, Fon Gianelli and Cosimo Franchetti who have been friends since childhood.
As an Italophile this was not really the romantic escapism I was looking for when I decided to read ‘Three Summers’. The elements are there with wonderful descriptions of a beautiful region and idyllic summers but the story takes a dramatic turn. Overpowered by the organised crime element and the terrible things that happen rather spoiling the novel for me. It is well written, but don’t pick it up unless you are prepared for a somewhat disturbing and dark story.
With thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House UK for the opportunity to read and review.
Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
Tricase Porto, Puglia, Italy
1957: The summer of innocence
Amongst the lemon trees, Rafaella Parisi impatiently waits for the summer visitors to arrive in her small fishing village on the coast of Puglia. She may be dating Fon Gianelli, but there is one person she longs to Cosimo - son of the wealthy Franchetti family.
1958: The summer everything changed
After a devastating accident at the lavish Franchetti villa, Rafa makes a vow that changes the course of all their futures…
1961: The summer they met again…
And when Rafa and Cosi’s lives collide, Rafa must decide if she’s willing to risk the life she has built for the future she might have had…
The Rome Affair
Author Profile:
Courtesy of Goodreads.
Karen Swan is the Sunday Times Top Three and international best-selling author. She has sold over five million books and is published in more than twenty five languages worldwide. She writes two books each year and her stories are known for their evocative locations, with Karen travelling widely for research. Her books feature complex love stories rooted to a central mystery and span both contemporary and historical timespans.
Her latest book Three Summers is set in Italy's heel, Puglia, in the late '50s, early '60s, and follows the taut love triangle between three childhood friends. Sharing their summers in a tiny fishing port they are caught between class and expectation - until a freak tragedy shatters their lives and resets their futures. Told over the course of three summers, they become bound together in an increasingly-fraught struggle of passion, possession and power.
She lives in Sussex with her husband, three children and three dogs.
Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:
Goodreads Author Profile Amazon Author Profile. Facebook Profile