Review: The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen

The Tuscan Child

by Rhys Bowen

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 352

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal.

Nearly thirty years later, Hugo’s estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father’s funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation.

Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father’s history—and maybe come to understand herself as well. Joanna soon discovers that some would prefer the past be left undisturbed, but she has come too far to let go of her father’s secrets now…

Kritters Thoughts:  So this book has one of my favorite things going for it - dual narrative.  One storyline is 1944, a British bomber has landed in Italy and is injured and a local woman finds him and helps bring him back to life.  The other storyline starts in 1973 and his daughter is trying to find the truth about him as he has recently passed and she found some interesting bits in his things and it sends her on this journey.

I love when I read a dual narrative and I love both storylines at the same level.  Obviously having Joanna's story from her point of view was a little more entertaining, but I was on pins and needles throughout his story because I wanted to know how he ended up back in England and with his wife and a new daughter, I just needed to know what he lead him from there to here!

Rhys Bowen has a long running series and I haven't read any from that series, but I have read this and her other stand alone - In Farleigh Field and I loved them both completely.  I am hesitant to start a big series, but I am hoping for another stand alone from her.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Little Bird Publicity.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.