Foto dell'autore

Christina Lynch

Autore di City of Dark Magic

4+ opere 1,368 membri 90 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Nota di disambiguazione:

(eng) "Because Magnus Flyte can be quite elusive and shuns the public eye, he delegates his affairs to Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch."

Serie

Opere di Christina Lynch

City of Dark Magic (2012) 943 copie
City of Lost Dreams (2013) 243 copie
The Italian Party (2018) 157 copie

Opere correlate

Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History (2014) — Collaboratore — 216 copie

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Altri nomi
Flyte, Magnus
Sesso
female
Nota di disambiguazione
"Because Magnus Flyte can be quite elusive and shuns the public eye, he delegates his affairs to Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch."

Utenti

Recensioni

Book Review: Sally Brady's Italian Adventure Stars: 5 of 5 Author: Christina Lynch @clynchwriter Publisher: St. Martin's Press @stmartinspress Thank you to @netgalley for the Audio ARC. Sally Brady is the main character in this lovely tale of a young girl who ends up on the streets of Hollywood 1931 at age 11. Sally eventually meets her "new mother" Patsy who also happens to be a movie star. Sally begins to Iive an extravagant life with her new adopted parents. Eventually her parents separate and Sally ends up with her mother and they move to Europe and eventually Italy. What ensues is the adventures they have and what happens to them when war breaks out. The reader also learns about a family living in a remote countryside in Italy. Writer Lapo, his American wife Eleanor and children. Lapo is eventually picked to pen Mussolini's biography. Sally and Lapo's son Alissandro's lives become entertwined during this time as both are stuck and hiding from the Italian Army. I don't want to give the ending away but I will tell you that this is a wonderful story and well worth the read. The ending is wonderful too. #ItalianAdventure, #ItalianExplorer, #Italia, #ExploreItaly, #ItalianVacation, #ItalianMemories, #ItalianTravel, #ItalyTravel, #ItaliaVacation, #ItalianExperience, #sallybradysitalianadventure, #bookstagram #instabook #igbooks #ilovereading #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #weekendreads #bookrecs #booknerdproblems #bookpictures #bookstagram #amreading #booksbooksbooks #instablog… (altro)
 
Segnalato
Kimberly103164 | 3 altre recensioni | Jan 14, 2024 |
In 1931, an eleven-year-old dust bowl refugee abandoned by her parents is “adopted” by Hollywood actress Patsy Chen who christens her “Sally”. Some years later, following her divorce, Patsy leaves her flailing career for Europe, working as a gossip columnist for the Hearst syndicate. Over the next few years, Sally helps Patsy in her assignments, attending parties, hobnobbing with the rich and famous, picking up the scoop on dalliances and scandals and reporting on them under a nom de plum. In 1941, after a selfless act of kindness leaves her stranded in Mussolini’s Italy with no papers, Sally is left to fend for herself, learning how to survive under a fascist regime as WWII rages on. Her story intersects with that of Lapo, a writer and farmer from Siena, who is chosen by Mussolini to ghostwrite a glowing biography and Lapo’s anti-fascist son, Alessandro, who despite his father’s best efforts is unable to avoid being drafted into Mussolini’s army, and eventually stationed in Prague.

The author masterfully weaves the three threads of this story together to give us a remarkable story. However, it did take a while to fully engage in the narrative. I felt the segment on the parties and Sally’s experiences as a gossip columnist was a tad too much (bordering on annoying!)and should have been condensed. But after the initial twenty-five percent of the novel, the story does pick up and I thoroughly enjoyed following the narrative, eager to see where the story would take us. There is an element of farfetchedness in certain aspects of the story, but this does not detract from the reading experience.

“I was surrounded by people who thought wearing the wrong hat was tragic and knowing the latest dance steps was genius. It was as if the rest of the world and all its woes didn’t exist.”

The author gives us an insightful look into the historical and political backdrop and the impact of the horrors of war and fascism and its aftermath. The author describes the contrasting worlds of the glitz and glamor of the lifestyles of the affluent with their parties and dalliances, almost clueless to the fact that Europe was on the brink of war and the plight of civilians trapped in the Fascist regime, many of whom were not supporters of the ideology being propagated at the time, such as Alessandro, a pacifist conscripted to fight in a war, defending a regime and a leader he believed represented evil.

“Alessandro remembered something a professor had said about how as societies collapse, they spend more and more on war, police, and prisons. That professor had then disappeared.”

Alessandro's internal conflict between his beliefs and principles and his duties is excellently depicted as is Lapo’s struggles to keep himself and his family safe as he is forced to follow the dictates of the regime while loathing what they represent including being forced to house political prisoners on the orders of local officials. The author injects a healthy dose of humor and satire (the highlights of Mussolini’s biography had me laughing out loud) into the narrative. I loved how we see Sally evolve from a shallow person (though we cannot completely blame her for this, given that she was nurtured by Patsy to develop such a persona) into a brave and resilient woman, willing to take risks to help those in need of assistance. There are instances wherein Sally’s sassy attitude and upbeat spirit might come across as out of place or even a tad unbelievable but you can’t help but admire how her indomitable spirit and her ability to use humor prove to be helpful in difficult situations, often manipulating said situation in her favor. In that, I found Sally to be an endearing character.

“I know exactly who I am and what I believe. I’m me. We’re not livestock, so lineage doesn’t matter. All humans are created equal. People should always treat each other kindly, especially if they’re strangers. That’s it. That’s who I am and what I believe.”

Overall, I enjoyed Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure by Christine Lynch. Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I paired my reading with Elise Roth’s brilliant audio narration, which elevated my experience with this novel and made for an engaging immersion reading experience. Many thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

“It is the historian who decides what was a just war. The person holding the pen, who looks back in judgment on decisions made in agony.”
… (altro)
 
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srms.reads | 3 altre recensioni | Sep 4, 2023 |
Even though this novel got off to a very sad start, Sally, the main character, has a personality that makes it difficult for anyone to feel downhearted. Sally is abandoned by her family and living on the streets of Los Angeles when she crosses paths with Patsy Chen. Patsy is a movie star and decides to “adopt” Sally because she has taken a liking to her and also because she feels it will boost her image.

Sally has gone from a destitute child to one of privilege almost overnight. When Patsy’s husband leaves her, she decides to take Sally and go to Europe to get away from the Hollywood gossip. Ironically, Patsy gets a job writing a gossip column under a pseudonym, which quickly becomes Sally’s job.

Meanwhile there is another storyline in play where Lapo, a landowner and writer, is struggling to get his farm to be successful while raising three children with his American wife. His oldest son, Alessandro, is an outspoken anti-fascist and of draft age and Lapo worries about his future.

Soon Italy is drawn into the war and all the main characters in the book are struggling to keep themselves safe while being true to their beliefs. I liked how the author presented some serious situations in a way that was more lighthearted than one would expect. Even though the novel is about a difficult time, it came across as more of an adventure than a life or death situation.

I enjoyed this story even more than Christina Lynch’s first novel and found it to be quite an adventure that I looked forward to reading every night.

Many thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to recommend this to readers and offer my honest review.
… (altro)
 
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tamidale | 3 altre recensioni | Jul 1, 2023 |
Just trying to fill time before third installment of discovery of....and this did not do it for me. It was a cross between Even Cowgirls get the Blues and hitchhiker guide with like a dose of academia. There was also a book I can't remember quite that reminds me of this...something about a book and an end and Y. Anywho...I did not finish this boom and hate to rate if I don't but I read very nearly to the end and I wouldn't recommend it past page 100. This is a great example of excellent world building and then not being able to follow through with the rest of the story. Now that I think about this novel in terms of Master and M...I might revisit and finish.… (altro)
 
Segnalato
caro_dimo | 49 altre recensioni | Jun 5, 2023 |

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Autori correlati

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Elke Sigal Designer
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Statistiche

Opere
4
Opere correlate
1
Utenti
1,368
Popolarità
#18,796
Voto
½ 3.5
Recensioni
90
ISBN
26

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