By Julia McGrath ’23
Staff Writer
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Italian Getaways
Warning: Spoilers
Yearning for a post-spring break escape? Let Rebecca Serle steal you away to Positano, Italy in her adult novel. Protagonist Katy Silver, grieving the recent death of her mother, decides on a whim to go to Positano, a small town on the Italian coast her mother visited before Katy was even born. Leaving behind her rocky marriage to a well-meaning man named Eric, Katy arrives in Italy to find her mother—yes, you heard that right—in Italy as well, at Katy’s same age.
What follows is a journey through all that Italy has to offer, and also a lot of self-reflection on Katy’s part. Beautiful sunsets and ocean views serve not just as descriptions for real-life beauty, but as places for Katy to reminisce on what her life was like before her mother died. She mentions everything: big life events like how she met Eric to the little things, or how dessert was only for special occasions in her family. While these facts about Katy are interesting enough, the book takes too many breaks from the main action to dwell on the past.
As for the maybe-ghost of Katy’s mother, Carol, she is as vibrant a young woman as Katy isn’t. However, over the course of the novel, thanks to the power of female friendship, Katy begins to heal and changes for the better, while also learning more about who her mother was as a person.
One thing that Katy learns that ultimately serves as the book’s main plot twist is that Katy has actually time-traveled to 1992, and her mother left the infant version of Katy back in the States. In a rare moment of vulnerability from Carol, she reveals that she got pregnant quickly after meeting Katy’s father, and that they got married soon after.
Carol worries that being a mom will take over her identity, and that she’ll lose herself in the role of a parent. While Carol’s anxiety isn’t explicitly resolved, it’s clear that Katy still sees her mother as a good person despite what she did. Whether or not that’s enough for a reader is up for debate, but it’s definitely a topic for another novel from Serle.
All in all, “One Italian Summer” is an enjoyable read that just screams summer. While the big plot twist could have been more impactful if it came up earlier in the novel, Rebecca Serle has written a pretty good story overall. It blends the right amount of European escapism with a touching tale of grief and the importance of familial relationships. It has its flaws, but for the most part, Serle’s writing entertains and tugs at the heartstrings.
“One Italian Summer” can be found at Lake Forest Library just outside North Campus, as well as the bookstore in downtown Lake Forest for $27.00. If you end up liking this book, check out Rebecca Serle’s other work, like the “Famous in Love” series, “The Dinner List” and “In Five Years.”
