The Italian matchmaker (by Santa Montefiore)

(Amazon UK link)

Every so often I visit a church book fair, and pick up a few inexpensive novels that look interesting. I often try new authors, basing my decisions on the blurb on the back, and also, more frivolously, on the appearance of the front cover. One book which I bought - over four years ago! - is ‘The Italian Matchmaker’. I had not heard of the author, Santa Montefiore, but I thought the cover of the book attractive, and the outline on the back sounded like my kind of book.

It’s taken me this long to decide to read it, and I almost gave up after the first chapter. That’s where we meet the main character - Luca, who is 41, divorced, and who has just quit his London business as a banker. He’s clearly very well off, but rather depressed. He’s visiting his old friend Freya and her family, and clearly wants to separate Freya from her husband Miles. Luca and Freya were an ‘item’ briefly in their youth, and he never liked Miles. 

The first chapter includes a dinner party with tedious young woman called Annabel who decides she wants to sleep with Luca. There’s also quite a lot made of an older woman called Peggy who cooks the meal and dresses up, because she is keen on Freya’s stepfather Fitz. The reason I nearly gave up after the first chapter is that everyone appears to be obsessed with sex. The language is crude, and none of the people at all likeable. Annabel and Peggy don't even appear again. 

I decided to give the book another chance, so I kept reading. Luca sets off to the Amalfi coast in Italy to stay with his parents. They have recently renovated a huge mansion that was in danger of turning into a ruin, and he is curious to see it. He also wants to get away from Freya who makes it clear that she’s content to be married to Miles, and does not want to have an affair with Luca.

There are a lot of characters in this book. Luca’s parents are the ones we meet first in Italy, although his father is a very shadowy background person. I’ve already forgotten his mother’s name. She is a hospitable person who likes showing off her new home, and there are several guests in residence. There’s an elderly professor who is interested in history, for instance. There’s also a very large woman known to all as ‘Ma’. And a young lovey-dovey couple. For no apparent reason Luca takes an immediate dislike to them all, although later he decides that some of them aren’t so bad as he gets to know them.

There’s also a family-run trattoria which Luca visits many times. There’s an attractive, flirting waitress called Rosa, and a dark, morose-looking girl called Cosima who is Rosa’s cousin. Rosa’s mother Alba owns the restaurant and as we quickly learn, her mother was the mistress of the previous owner of Luca’s parents’ new home, and was murdered. 

At least, I think I have that right. The details were mentioned several times in different conversations but with so many different people I found it hard to recall who was whom. I didn’t find any of them interesting enough to make a list, or to figure out the relationships. 

There are a lot of different subplots, some of which didn’t seem to add anything much to the overall story. There’s a journalist who wants to write an article about the restored house, for instance. But all she wants to do is to seduce any male she happens to be alone with. Alba’s husband is the photographer, but he doesn’t, as far as I could tell, even meet the journalist. Or maybe I missed that. It’s the kind of book where my mind kept drifting so I had to turn back a page or two at times to remember what was happening.

One of the more significant subplots concerns a small folly that had been kept in good condition by someone, and which Luca’s parents haven’t changed. It’s bizarrely full of 'adult' books and erotic objects, and becomes the meeting place for various people. There are worries about an intruder, but no real tension. 

Oh, and there’s a ghost, although not a scary one. Luca is able to see the spirits of people who have died, and there’s one in particular whom he keeps seeing. He doesn’t realise it’s a ghost at first, but it leads him towards someone whom he falls in love with. It's unlikely that he would do so within a couple of weeks of insisting he had only ever loved Freya, but Luca is a wealthy and spoilt womaniser. I really didn’t like him. 

To add to the generally flat or dislikeable cast in the book, the writing is not great quality. There are rapid viewpoint changes within almost every scene, which is partly why we never really have a chance to get to know anyone. There are an abundance of cliches, too - not just in conversation, but throughout the book. And there is a lot of repetition, and character ‘thoughts’ that are only slightly disguised authorial ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’.  I feel that it could have been improved with some significant editing.

And yet… I kept reading. Most of the book isn’t as sordid as the first chapter suggests, and I skipped the few detailed unsavoury encounters that happen. They add nothing at all to the story and (in my view) should have been edited out entirely. The ending is somewhat predictable, after the historical 'mysteries' rather peter out, but satisfactory. 

There are lots of snippets of high praise from newspaper reviewers at the front of the book; it’s hard to believe that they actually read it. The story itself has potential, and some of the descriptions of it are good. The author is clearly familiar with the location, and writes from personal experience. But most of the writing is not ‘beautiful’; it certainly isn’t ‘funny’; and, in my opinion, none of the characters is ‘brilliantly drawn’. 

However, it appears that others enjoyed this book very much, so don’t necessarily take my word for it. It’s evidently well liked in general, and written by a popular author.  But it’s not one I shall read again, and, personally I wouldn't recommend it. 

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews