A WINTER IN NEW YORK is Josie Silver's latest holiday novel, but the first of her books that I've read. I was pleasantly surprised by the intense yet simple emotions her characters present.
A WINTER IN NEW YORK is Iris, Gio, and the Bellotti family's story, set in Manhattan in the midst of some yummy food and delicious gelato sellers. The food joints are in the backdrop though they have a legendary status in their own right in the story. Iris is a British implant fresh in New York running away from nastiness back home.
Gio Bellotti is at the heart of his Italian family running the famous gelato shop. Unknown to the past of their parents, Iris and Gio's paths cross right from the start. Harbouring secrets and baggage of their own, Iris and Gio steadily come and work together, falling a little bit in love with each other every day.
Will the secrets of their parents and their own pasts threaten the blossoming chemistry between them? Or will the family close rank on Gio and isolate Iris?
I wasn't expecting the emotional tone of A WINTER IN NEW YORK to be as intense as it was--the basic plotline wasn't new by any means, however, it's where good authors shine, telling age-old stories in a manner the listener feels we're hearing it for the first time.
There's love and need, desperation, vulnerability, yearning, loneliness, and a whole lot of emotions embedded under the skin of the story. All of which just might make this an emotional, messy ugly cry kind of story if you are in the mood for it.
I enjoyed how A WINTER IN NEW YORK made me feel right there with its characters in the midst of their joys, turmoils, and uncertainties. At the end of the day, it's about a woman, all by herself, looking at a family and wishing to be a part of it but hesitating to say it out loud.
I'd say this is a perfect read on a cold, winter's day as the story will fill you up with all the warm fuzzy cosy feels.
A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel.
When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice.
But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?
Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?
Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.
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