When Ada Howell’s adoptive father dies she and her mother are forced to sell the grand but fading country house in Wales and move to a much more modest home in the suburbs of London. How is Ada to make the connections she craves with the sophisticated and privileged elite from this humble base, she wonders. And then a rejection from Oxford University rubs salt in the wound. But a gift from her godmother, who largely funds a two month art and history trip to Italy, provides Ada with an opportunity to rub shoulders with just the sort of people she is seeking. So starts this engrossing tale, a story that starts slowly but ends with a punch to the gut I’m still reeling from.
The trip is to commence in Venice and move through various locations including Florence and Rome. When Ada joins the group – she arrives a little late as she’s saved money on travel by booking a cheap flight to more distant Treviso rather than the city’s official airport – she quickly realises that many of the small group are established friends and some are even related to each other. Integrating herself successfully into this group is going to be harder work than she expected. The trip is run by a small company called Dilettanti Discoveries and the party will be accompanied on their journey by three young, well informed guides.
Ada comes across as scheming and rather hard to like, dropping into conversation tales of the grand house the family were required to sell off and calling attention to the fact that her late father was a writer. She’s tough on the one naïve American in the group and watchful of the others, ever looking for ways of gaining their interest and their trust. One member of the group in particular takes a dislike to her – and she to him. The author introduces a lot of detailed information on art and architecture here which is a little on the heavy side for my tastes but did a provide a sense of authenticity to this trip, designed to be a modern representation of the Grand Tour of old. But then an incident occurs, a death. The circumstances are odd and it shakes up the group, disrupting the mood of reverie and self-congratulation.
The trip is to commence in Venice and move through various locations including Florence and Rome. When Ada joins the group – she arrives a little late as she’s saved money on travel by booking a cheap flight to more distant Treviso rather than the city’s official airport – she quickly realises that many of the small group are established friends and some are even related to each other. Integrating herself successfully into this group is going to be harder work than she expected. The trip is run by a small company called Dilettanti Discoveries and the party will be accompanied on their journey by three young, well informed guides.
Ada comes across as scheming and rather hard to like, dropping into conversation tales of the grand house the family were required to sell off and calling attention to the fact that her late father was a writer. She’s tough on the one naïve American in the group and watchful of the others, ever looking for ways of gaining their interest and their trust. One member of the group in particular takes a dislike to her – and she to him. The author introduces a lot of detailed information on art and architecture here which is a little on the heavy side for my tastes but did a provide a sense of authenticity to this trip, designed to be a modern representation of the Grand Tour of old. But then an incident occurs, a death. The circumstances are odd and it shakes up the group, disrupting the mood of reverie and self-congratulation.