Katy Silver lost her soulmate. She doesn’t know how to live anymore. She doesn’t know what to do or what not to do without her guidepost, her mentor, her everything. Katy’s mother Carol is dead. The only thing Katy has left is the last trip they planned together. The trip to Positano that they couldn’t finish. Katy leaves right after the funeral, going to Italy alone to see what had drawn her mother there in her thirties. She leaves a lot of things open-ended back in LA, including her routine dead-end life and her marriage. What was it that Carol wanted Katy to now see in those same places? She won’t have long to wonder because Carol is in Italy. Exactly as she was the last time she was in Positano. Is Katy hallucinating, or is her mother is really there in flesh? It is her last chance to find out all the answers. Just ONE ITALIAN SUMMER.
The first thought I had when I understood this story thematically, is that it resembles the famous animated movie “Your Name”. It is a story about finding your identity. How your loved ones can have a massive impact on your personality. And how that personality is affected when you lose that person and feel like you are not the same person anymore and can never function properly again. Our protagonist Katy goes through this same crisis when her mother passes away. She second-guesses every decision that she ever made and goes on a self-explorative journey hoping that her mother would guide her in some form or another. Little did she know her mother would be actually there, and she would find out secrets that she never needed to know about.
ONE ITALIAN SUMMER by Rebecca Serle is a book about loss, grief, and how a person overcomes these emotions over time. It shows that healing is a unique process for every person. I loved the characters and the premise at the outset, but I think there wasn’t enough room for them to develop. Serle has two different storylines: one with magical realism, and another which is a normal Italian rom-com. Both happen simultaneously and in alternate chapters and I could not stick with one vibe of the story. It does get better as the last quarter approaches and all the loose ends are neatly tied up by the end.
While all of that is happening, Rebecca takes you on this beautiful journey of colors and smells. The aesthetic is extremely beautiful and the prose describing Italy is top-notch. It felt like I was in Positano alongside Katy breathing the air, getting drunk on wine, and taking in the wonderful view of Amalfi Coast, Capri, and Naples. I highly appreciated this part of the book, and it is a reason and a half to pick this book up if you love to read about places and the culture there.
When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: to Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.
But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.
And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.
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