The Italian Daughter

Product Information

But years later after the war it is 1946 and Felix meets up with his beloved Estee, but Felix is due to marry Emilie in an arranged marriage and Felix does not want it to go ahead he wants Estee to be his wife, a choice has to be made and hearts are broken will they ever be mended? The dual timeline is well-plotted and intensely descriptive, vibrant, and atmospheric. Both timelines are equally engaging, WWII and present day. Gripping and hard to put down, the characters are strongly dominant. 4.5 stars – CE Williams When Lily arrives and shows the recipe to the surviving members of the family, it is clear that she has unearthed a tragic love story: of a young girl named Estee and a boy named Felix. Of a childhood friendship which developed into a passionate love affair. Of a family torn apart by wealth and of two young people who were prepared to sacrifice everything for love.

Estee was always going to be a ballerina and it is what she was pushed to do by her mother, it was hard in 1936 pre- war with no friends not much food, when she meets Felix who is two years older than her twelve years and there is an instant connection a true friendship starts and last for many years. Estee gets her chance and becomes a ballerina at La Scala in Milan the only problem she sees is that she will never see Felix again. The best thing about The Italian Daughter is that you could literally throw a dart and the menu and walk away will a belly filled with the best Italian meal you’ll ever have in Metro Phoenix. Some cannot-stop-thinking-about menu items: She and Felix, the son of a baker fall in love. However Felix’s family wants him to marry into a prominent family and has arranged his marriage. Terwijl je heen en weer springt tussen het heden en het verleden leer je de kleurrijke personages steeds beter kennen, ga je met hen meeleven omdat je hun verschillende emoties voelt, kom je achter lang bewaarde geheimen en word je helemaal meegenomen dit verhaal vol (verboden) liefde, persoonlijke ontwikkeling, doorzettingsvermogen en twijfels, passie, verplichtingen, herinneringen, verdriet, hoop en mysterie. De personages worden realistisch en levensecht neergezet, ze dromen, hebben ambitie en willen het liefst hun gevoel volgen maar worden daarin nog wel eens tegengehouden door traditie, verwachtingen, ultimatums of zelf opgelegde toekomstbeelden. Ze zijn krachtig en stellen zich open, al is dat door eerdere ervaringen niet altijd even makkelijk, ze moeten een aantal moeilijke beslissingen nemen en Soraya Lane schrijft met veel liefde over hun beroepen, waardoor ook die onderdelen van het verhaal echt gaan leven.She has recently started a new job with a well know winery. She and the owner’s son take a holiday to learn more about wine business but also find out the bakery where the recipe originated as she believe is will provide her with more about her great grandmother. Do not use the direct article with the SINGULAR, unaltered nouns of most family members. If there is an adjective before or after the family member, use the article. Also, use the article with the possessive loro. The start of a new seven part series each a dual timeline focusing on seven women brought together by Hopes House. Their respective love stories were also just as exhilarating despite all that held them apart from loving and breathing freely. Although, I wish it was a bit more justified why Estee fell in love with Felix and Lily fell for Antonio. jumbo shrimp + calamari + clams + mussels + scallops + bacala + tomato saffron brodo + squid ink tonnarelli

Nadat ze een geheimzinnig kistje heeft gekregen met een paar oude bezittingen van haar overgrootmoeder van vaders kant, gaat ze op zoek naar haar familie. In the present day timeline, we meet another lost daughter who is trying to find her way in the world after her dad’s death and her mother’s new relationship. After studying winemaking in Australia, Lily agrees to help with harvesting at the Martinelli winery in Lake Como. Lily is one of the women who’ve met with the London lawyer and she hopes to uncover more of her grandmother’s secrets while she is in Italy. Lily is about to take on a new job, working with a winegrower and his family in the Como region in Italy. Perhaps this is fortuitous, as the contents of the box she found proves that her grandmother may have been Italian. While heading off to Italy for the next several months, she hopes to ask around to try and dig up things about her grandmother's past. More than finding answers, Lily also meets Antonio, the winegrower's son in Como, and she just might finally take a chance with her heart. The Italian Daughter is book one in the The Lost Daughters series by Soraya M. Lane. I was fully enthralled with this story and could not put it down. I got this ebook also as an audiobook which was expertly narrated by Zoe Mills. Listening to this book brought both sadness and joy, and the narrator did a fabulous job helping my emotions to ride that roller coaster of all the feels. This wonderful story wrapped up with a wonderful conclusion and now I cannot wait for book two in this series, which I believe will be The Sugar King's Daughter. That second book will also be in dual timeline fashion. Op jonge leeftijd ontmoet ze Felix de bakkersjongen, en de twee hebben een enorme aantrekkingskracht naar elkaar toe. Felix lijkt alleen al uitgehuwelijkt te zijn, maar nadat hij Estée ontmoet heeft probeert hij hier onderuit te komen.My grandmother was a ballerina in La Scala, and I am in Italy making wine and enjoying the vineyards? Travelling to Italy and taking a job on a vineyard, Lily is determined to unravel the mystery of her past. The vineyard owners, in particular their charming son Antonio, offer to help. They tell Lily that the recipe belongs to the wealthy Rossi family, known for their bakeries which opened after the Second World War. Antonio offers to drive Lily to the Rossi’s village and deep down, Lily is delighted to have him as her guide. I’m so excited to travel to Cuba in Lane’s next installment in this series. More importantly, YOU need to read this book and discover why Soraya Lane is an auto-read author for me. Soraya M. Lane is a Historical Fiction, Romance, Contemporary fiction author from New Zealand. She was always interested in reading and writing but when she went to college, she decided to study law. She graduated with a law degree alright but it did not take long before she realized that her future lay in writing rather than in the law. She had always been a voracious reader and a writer right from the time she first went to school. Soraya used to come up with wonderful stories that she read to the class to the delight of her teachers. Reading and writing was something that came naturally to her and as such, the desire to become a professional author is not something that was a surprise. As a university student studying the law, she started writing, as all she wanted was to publish and see her name on a bookshelf. She was about 19 or 20 at this time and got involved with the Romance Writers of New Zealand when she started writing seriously. It was at one of the yearly conferences where editors and agents from the UK and the United States were in attendance that she got her huge break. She had been pitching for several years when her contemporary romance entry in the conference contest came out on top. Laura Bradford who would later become her agent approached and signed her on. She was twenty-seven years old when she signed that first publishing contract and published “Soldier on Her Doorstep” her debut novel in 2011. Since then she has become a prolific author writing both contemporary romance and historical fiction with more than twenty-five titles to her name.

Now ~ While Lily is In the US, she is given a box with a recipe in a theatre program from Teatro Alla Scala in Milan. The recipe is for a dessert made of chocolate and hazelnuts. Lily knows this is a message calling her to Italy. Soraya M. Lane is now living her dream life as she always dreamed of becoming an author right from her childhood. She fantasized about recreating the stories she loved reading during the day and in her bed at night. Lane is now a full-time author and spends much of her days writing her novels and parenting her two little children. She finds the inspiration for her romance novel characters from her home where she spends hours thinking of plots and character traits. When she is not doing that, she can be found watching documentaries and trawling historical books looking for stories for her next historical fiction novel. Since she writes in two genres, she has two names with her contemporary romances published under Soraya Lane while her historical fiction is released under the name Soraya M. Lane. She currently lives with her husband and children on a small farm in New Zealand and works from her small home office that overlooks a patch of grassland where her horses often graze. The Italian Daughter is the first in the series and is set in Tuscany in 1937 and London in present day. In the 1930s timeline, the author introduces readers to soulmates, Felix and Estee, who are torn apart by family loyalty. Estee is being groomed as a prima ballerina in hopes of being accepted at the most prestigious dance academy in Italy - La Scala. When she meets the baker’s son, Felix Barbieri, it’s love at first sight. The two have an intense connection and have no doubt that their future is with each other. Unfortunately, social standing and parental expectations stand in their way. Na de dood van haar vader reist Lily de wereld rond om haar kennis en vaardigheden in de wijnbouw uit te breiden. Na jaren in Nieuw-Zeeland te hebben gewoond, keert ze naar Engeland terug om haar moeder te bezoeken en daarna door te reizen naar Italië bij Roberto Martinelli, een gekende en geprezen wijnmaker. Bij haar moeder thuis in Londen vindt Lily een brief waarin ze gevraagd wordt om naar het advocatenkantoor te komen, waar er een voorwerp voor haar nagelaten is door haar overgrootmoeder. Het betreft een kistje met 2 papiertjes: een receptje in het Italiaans en eentje met de woorden Teatro alla Scala. Vastbesloten om het raadsel omtrent haar overgrootmoeder aan vaders zijde te achterhalen, gaat ze op onderzoek uit. Bij de familie Martinelli wordt ze met open armen ontvangen en vooral de zoon Antonio maakt heel wat gevoelens in haar los. Als assistent-wijnmaker beleeft ze een heerlijke periode bij de Italiaanse familie en ze voelt er zich meteen thuis. Toch kan ze niet wachten om de zoektocht naar haar voorouders aan te vatten en samen met Antonio gaat ze, na de intensieve druivenoogst op bezoek bij het gekende theater La Scala in Milaan. De speurtocht brengt haar van Milaan tot in Piëmont maar zorgt er ook voor dat de emoties soms hoog oplopen. Zowel haar gevoelens voor Antonio maar ook de zoektocht naar haar vaders grootmoeder, vergen heel wat energie. De mysteries stapelen zich op maar ze komt ook voor veel verrassingen te staan. En welke band heeft ze nu toch met Italië?

Publication Order of Soldiers' Homecoming Books

Present Day: A winemaker on her quest to unearth a secret buried for years, to find what links her father's side of heritage to Italy. In the vineyard, under the Italian sun, while she learns of her great-grandparents' past, she just might also stumble upon a family and love of her own. The food at The Italian Daughter is as authentic and amazing as any you will find this side of Sicily. The made-from-scratch menu focuses on handcrafted pasta, stone fired pizzas, seafood, veal dishes, and new twists and tastes on Italian classics. Roasted Potato and Rosemary Pizza. La Figlia Oscura (translated to The Lost Daughter) is the name of a short novel by Elena Ferrante. It was made into the Oscar-nominated film The Lost Daughter by director Maggie Gyllenhaal, and stars Olivia Coleman.

De liefde hangt in de lucht en dat is een rode draad doorheen beide verhalen, maar er komt zoveel meer bij kijken. Door de zoektocht van Lily krijgt het verhaal meer diepgang en het maakt de lezer ook nieuwsgierig. De harde jeugd en de zware jaren waar Estee zich moet door ploeteren zowel voor, tijdens als na de oorlogsjaren, zorgen voor een meer pakkend, zwaarmoedig en ontroerend geheel. Een leuke afwisseling waardoor je doorheen het verhaal vliegt en je emoties wisselen van het ene uiterste naar het andere. Wanneer alles ongeveer op zijn plaats begint te vallen, weet de auteur je toch nog te verrassen met een leuke twist. And…how is she going to find out anything about her grandmother with the few clues she has from the box...a recipe for a chocolate dessert and the name of a theater, La Scala Academy.Estee, I bought this ring the day after I saw you on stage at La Scala, all those years ago. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.” Estee wanted to see it so badly, but instead she reached for Felix’s hand and gently closed it over the box. “No,” she whispered. “I want you to propose only when you’re truly free.” Estee’s great-grandmother had met and fell in love with a man at Lake Como. He was betrothed to another but pressure from the family required him to complete the arranged marriage planned for him as a boy. Lily, een jonge Engelse wijnmaker, reist naar een wijngaard aan het Comomeer om van de legendarische familie Martinelli meer te leren over het maken van wijn. Ze voelt zich zo thuis bij de familie en de manier van leven op het Italiaanse platteland dat het lijkt alsof ze hier thuishoort. En dat ligt niet alleen aan de aantrekkingskracht die ze voelt voor de knappe oudste zoon Antonio. Lily heeft net ontdekt dat het onbekende verleden van haar oma terugvoert naar het beroemde La Scala theater in het vlakbij gelegen Milaan, en naar een prominente bakkersfamilie uit Piedmont. Is het toeval dat Lily nu hier beland is? Of het lot? Terwijl de gevoelens tussen Lily en Antonio aanzwellen, onderneemt ze een zoektocht naar de waarheid over haar grootmoeder en overgrootmoeder. Lily ontdekt het meeslepende en hartverscheurende verhaal van twee jonge geliefden die moeten kiezen tussen familie en liefde: Estée, een jonge ballerina, en Felix, de jonge erfgenaam van zijn families bakkerij-imperium. Hun liefde zal de familie uiteindelijk verscheuren.