Previously published as The mermaid garden. Includes a reading group guide with questions for discussion and a conversation with the author.
Summary:
Ten-year-old Floriana is captivated by the beauty of the magnificent Tuscan villa that overlooks the sea just outside her small village. She likes to spy from the crumbling wall into the gardens and imagine that one day she'll live there. Dante, the son of the villa's powerful industrialist owner, invites her inside and shows her the enchanting garden. From that moment on, Floriana knows that her is there, in that garden, with Dante. But as they grow up and fall in love, their romance causes a crisis, jeopardizing the very thing they hold most dear. Decades later and hundreds of miles away, a beautiful old country house hotel on England's Devon coast has fallen on hard times. Its owner, Marina, advertises for an artist to stay the summer and teach the guests how to paint. The man she hires is charismatic and wise and soon begins to pacify the discord in her family and transform the fortunes of the hotel. However, he is not who he seems. Whatever his intentions are, he is certain to change Marina's life forever. Spanning four decades and sweeping from the Italian countryside to the English coast, this is a moving and mysterious tale of love, forgiveness, and the past revealed.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.