Getting book reviews is often wonderful and even instructive for an author. You learn a lot by knowing what someone loved in your story and what they didn’t love as much. I especially value comments from fellow authors, who know how much goes into the writing and publishing of a novel.
I was especially pleased when Suanne Schafer, editor, author, and regular book reviewer, read and reviewed my newest. Her full review and wonderful website containing many book reviews, can be found here.
One of the things that touched me in this review was that she found the setting plausible, having lived near there. It’s a place on the northern Italian coast near Portofino, where I once stayed, but not a place I lived. To have the descriptions of the magical town of Lerici validated by an ex-resident of the region pleased me enormously!
The other mention she made that pleased me was that this new book can be read as a standalone, even though it is a sequel to my earlier novel, The Invisibles.
Schafer eloquently describes the basic story of Return to Lerici:
“Half-sisters Elinor and Saffron are bound by a father who abandoned them as he pursued a near-infinite series of infidelities. After being involved in an explosion and nearly dying, Elinor has settled in their family home in Lerici, Italy, which is sweetly haunted by the ghost of Percy Bysshe Shelley who drowned in the ocean nearby. Family dynamics postpone Elinor’s wedding to her lover, Tonio, as the family reunites to help their mother, Betsy, deal with cancer. While undergoing treatment, Betsy obsesses with finding her husband’s child, listed on the birth certificate only as “Baby Boy” so she can reunite their family. The family must decide whether to take the ‘new’ brother into the fold if and when they find him.”
My favorite part of this review is this, at the end:
“Dacus writes convincingly about family and travel with a touch of supernatural. The emotions of the characters ring true and are complex enough to be truly human. I’ve spent time in nearby La Spezia on the western coast of Italy, so can attest to the accuracy of her descriptions of Lerici. She very much captures the expatriate experience of living abroad.”
Suanne Schafer’s books can be found here.
https://suanneschaferauthor.com/book-review-return-to-lerici/?fbclid=IwAR1pc7HLBjq_jR6IYWMaFgMPDyX-CjdNB7eXliNJD5e2ZIlZAvbewhgfvsg