ONE ITALIAN SUMMER

Who were your parents before you were born? That's part of the discovery Katy makes in this audiobook. Thirty-year-old Katy's mother, Carol, has just died. Katy is lost without her; furthermore, her marriage is failing, and she's unable to cope, so she takes the trip to Italy that she and Carol were supposed to take together. Sadly, Lauren Graham's narration lacks credibility. She gives listeners an angry, self-involved Katy with an inexplicably flippant attitude. In Positano, magical realism takes over, and Katy finds a friend in a younger version of Carol, a vibrant artist who has left her baby and husband for a different life in Italy. Graham handles the time-shift, but she lacks the genuine feeling we expect between Katy and Carol in this mother-daughter love story. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2022]