Acclaimed Italian author Caterina Bonvicini delivers a big, bold, all-encompassing novel in The Year of Our Love, a deeply engrossing 40-year love story.
In 1975, two sensitive five-year-olds share a kiss in Bologna, Italy. Olivia is the granddaughter and heir of the Morganti family, who have made their fortune as industrialists. Valerio is the son of the gardener and housekeeper of the estate. They all live on the Morganti property. The kiss between Olivia and Valerio is innocent, yet it seals their fate. Though they don't know it at the time, their lives are forever changed, their hearts entwined, inseparable, though their class and socio-economic backgrounds set them drastically apart.
Through short, perfectly selected and astutely crafted scenes, Bonvicini depicts episodes from the lives of Olivia and Valerio over the next four decades in an Italy where corruption--in both personal lives and the society at large--is endemic. As the years progress through 2013, Olivia and Valerio grow up and go their separate ways. Yet their paths, somehow, keep crossing. Each reunion affirms and deepens their connection as friends, confidantes and passionate lovers. The short-term oasis of each rendezvous forges them into kindred spirits and soul mates.
High drama and moments of great wisdom flesh out themes centered on the perils of upward mobility, appearances for appearance's sake and allegiance to marriage and family. In stunning prose, translated by Antony Shugaar, Bonvicini renders an intricately plotted contemporary Italian epic where the fate of her star-crossed lovers is magnified by the crushing influence of familial and societal forces. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines