Elettra’s quest to find out more about her mother’s past is prompted by an otherworldly encounter while visiting her mother, Edda, in hospital. Having previously given up her own hopes and dreams, she becomes driven by an all encompassing passion to uncover the secrets she’s grown up with and sets off for the convent of Saint Elizabeth on Titan’s Island.

The moment Elettra sets foot on the island there is mystery in what she sees and throughout the story there are mysteries to uncover with the residents in the community. Much is hidden which makes it difficult for Elettra to find out anything so she has to use subterfuge herself to glean anything of meaning. With the economy failing and the islanders spirits already downtrodden, the fight with the mayor seems insurmountable. It’s going to take something special to reawaken the memories of the old ones of how it used to be on the island …

Valentina Cebeni’s writing style is poetic which drew me in to the settings and the people. I enjoyed experiencing a very difficult culture to my own! I did find it difficult to like Elettra … with her quest seeming to exclude everything else I found her cold and dismissive and I couldn’t warm to her at all. It’s a shame we didn’t get to know her when her own dreams and desires were burning brightly as I think it’s possible she would have been a very different person. My favourite character has to be Isabelle. Down to earth, she’s a women with wisdom to share with those around her.

The time Elettra spends in the convent bakery brings magic with the ingredients coming together. I loved this! For me this offset the overall feeling of melancholy of this story. (If you enjoy baking you’ll love that recipes are interspersed at strategic points throughout the story, recipes such as the important Pane All’Anice).

This story is not a light and summery read as you might imagine from the cover and the setting. Yes there is friendships, love, baking, community and hope but there’s also the underside of life … secrets, greed and politics, domestic violence and ignorance. The overall feeling for me was one of melancholy.

The Little Italian Bakery shows us there are no wrong decisions – that we will find our way eventually and be all the richer for the experiences we have along the way.

This book has made me want to check out Sardinia and book a holiday and also enjoy some of the delicious tasting food on my travels! I've read a couple of books this year that have made me look up more about the setting because it sounds so idyllic.
The book is full of secrets, rounded characters and a fascinating sounding convent alongside mouthwatering recipes that make you dream of being inside the pages of this book. We travel back to discover more about Elettra's mum which is really interesting.

The story had a lot more depth than the average chic lit I usually read. I found it captivating on the whole and kept you guessing where the story was going right to the end.

Love a good summer read and this didn't disappoint. Really felt I was there in the mix and pictured the scenes as they happened

This is a very enjoyable book. I loved the settings. The descriptions of the landscape and the sounds and smells felt so real.

The characters were crafted and developed well.

I really enjoyed the multi generational aspects of the Novel.

In all this is a fascinating family saga.

My thanks to Netgalley and The Little Brown Book Group for a copy in exchange for this review.

I thought from the blurb that I would really enjoy this book: Italian setting, family secrets, a community of strong women, food & recipes what's not to like? Unfortunately I could not get into this book at all. I had absolutely no empathy with the lead characters. was not interested in what the family secret was, the issues on the island, the quest to make things better. I have really struggled to pinpoint the reasons why I did 't like this book., I think it was the 2 lead characters , I just couldn't engage with Elettra and Lea, I didn't find them sympathetic and I'm wondering if this was due to the translation? Was something lost in that? The plotting was heavy and the characters unbelievable and unengaging - and considering this was a group of women who had suffered great tragedies that is quite some achievement! It needed some editing to tighten the plot line up and the pace of the story.
It would have been helped if there were not some glaring plotholes? For example, who was the strange woman in the hospital who sent Elletra on her quest to the island with a message from her comatose mother?
I imagine this could appeal to the summer reads market but they run the risk of being disappointed

Review: This was not my favourite read recently however, it is a lovely story full of the warmth of Italy and family secrets. It is a story of discovery and finding out about family. For me some parts were a little awkward some of the ideas in the plot.

Unfortunately this is one of the worst books I've read (or attempted to read) in a long time. I think part of the problem may lie in the translation into English, which resulted in confusing sentences, and a garbled ideas. The basic plot is that a girl with a complex relationship with her mother (in a coma) travels to a small island off the coast of Sardinia (I think) to discover secrets of her mother's past. This was described as a great/feel good beach read, but I actually found it rather depressing - sorry!

This book is like a refreshing shot of limoncello; zesty, fresh and mouthwatering!

Firstly, I must say this book is a foodie's delight and full of delicious baking & drinks; aniseed bread, sweet focaccia, almond biscuits, lemon jellies, amaretti, rose wine. There are authentic recipes dotted throughout the chapters for most of the treats too! I sometimes get disappointed that books featuring café/bakery/food in the title often lack food goodies in the meat of the story which so often is the main reason I've picked the book in the first place!

Another delight is the stunning backdrop of the Italian island Elettra visits. You really can picture the wild beauty of it, feel the searing heat and of course smell the descriptive scents of wild flowers, salt, herbs and sunshine (even on a drab, chilly UK April day). Like all good travel fiction books, this completely emersed me in amongst the area, so I felt I was present within the island, the community and the drama.

Though set in the present day there is a distinctive historical vibe to this story; as it tracks Elettra's mother's past, and the background of the commune on the reclusive island, you feel transported back to simpler but arduous times where tradition, trade, and honour are important. Though hard to reconcile with progressive attitudes, the themes of ostracism, misogyny and corruption are still ingrained in some societies and communities, and though antiquated to myself reading this story, still relevant to the area written about. I felt it important to absorb this perspective, not challenge it, as the story is written by an Italian woman and based on her knowledge and experiences of Sardinia (when you read the author's acknowledgements).

It definitely has a vibe of books like Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Chocolat etc for the history & island charm, and the travel & romance of Isabelle Bloom, Jo Thomas & Mandy Baggot books, so if you are a fan of any of these then I definitely think you'll enjoy The Little Italian Bakery.

There was I felt moments where the story was padded out; for example a scene would be set for a confrontation between characters but then the paragraphs would go off at a tangent along some other memory or flashback that felt disjointed.  There were times that I felt I lost track of the timeline the story was on and how long Elettra had been on the island, and some parts felt unnecessarily long. However, overall I enjoyed this very emotive and lyrical story of generations of women and the bonds they shared

Lovely setting for a book, but I found this quite difficult to get in to.

I found this title really got under my skin and haunted me in between reads. The writing is incredibly atmospheric and I could feel the cool stillness of the convent, but also the weight of so many secrets seep into me as I was drawn into the character’s story. I loved the recipes that began each chapter and, although not much of a baker myself I will be giving some of them a go. I found Elletra getting to know her mother through her baking very powerful and the women’s struggles to overcome the small island mentality fascinating. The many twists and turns of this story will stay with me for a very long time.

Elettra visits the island to discover her mother's past life. In her fight to save the convent, her path reveals her mother's history, and she finds family and love. A wonderful story, rich characters, interesting theme with the addition of recipes throughout .

I can't say if I love or hate this book. Some parts like the description of the food and the smells are great. Some other, like the isle description, felt a bit forced and over the top.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK

This was such a stunning story that I feel I could read over and over again. The author Valentina Cebeni transported me to the atmospheric Mediterranean island. An island that was the only clue to the past belonging to Elettra's mother. Elettra's mother has been in a coma for a year now, Edda was a very secretive woman and hadn't revealed much of her past to her daughter. With the family bakery now in financial ruins Elettra feels like she needs to find the past that has been so cleverly hidden from her, armed with the one clue a necklace inscribed with the name of an island Elettra sets off on a journey, a journey that was to reveal more than just her heritage.

Finding solace in an old convent Elettra starts to appreciate the significance of the convent to her mother's past. She also starts to learn the beauty of the convent and all that are finding comfort amongst it's walls. The convent's walls were a wonderful soothing structure for some but the walls also held many secrets to the past. A past that held a darkness and once the light was shown it would change the path of discovery to all those concerned.

Elettra had felt a little trapped by her mother who didn't share her professional dreams and felt that Elettra's destiny was in baking. Edda had a profound skill for baking and her hands could turn the simplest of ingredients to pleasurable delights that would sooth the soul. The ingredients that Edda used in her baking were in abundance in the gardens of the convent and beyond and whilst walking around the convent's grounds the aroma soon started bringing nostalgic thoughts to Elettra's mind.

The convent was in threat by developers and Elettra with her new friends living at the convent felt impelled to help keep the convent to it's rightful owner. A community spirit of survival was formed to fight for more than their home but to fight for the past that had been wiped away from the islanders minds.

This was a truly beautiful story that at times were very heart wrenching. A story of grief but also a story that took you on a journey of self-discovery, a journey opening your eyes and heart to another destination. With the text flowing beautifully you follow Elettra's journey and are treated to delicious, tempting recipes along the way and each chapter is punctuated with a line drawing of mouthwatering lemons. I look forward to more from this author as The Little Italian Bakery was just superb.

This is a new author for me and I thought the cover and title pulled me in... but it didn't sadly. I noticed it could have been edited somewhat more then it was and cut down as there was quite some repitition in it that was not needed.
Elettra mother is in a coma, and debts are looming fast as she ran a bakery....but she also knows of a secret so she heads of to find what that secret is. She ends up on a small Italian island at a convent, and finds more than she expected. The ending didn't do it for me, and I wanted to close the book a few times... I finished it and enjoyed it slightly not like most I enjoy these days.. Thank you to Netgalley.

I found this book pulled me a lot of different ways. The path for Elettra finding out about her mother's past was interesting and at time intriguing but I found a lot of repetition and sometimes, for me, way too much background and not enough action. In parts it felt unrealistic that a whole island would shun women who had been widowed. I expected there to be some Italian language in the book but all written in English apart from the recipe titles so I was unsure whether there were any language barriers or whether Elettra spoke fluent Italian. I guessed the relationship between Lea and the Abbess and Lea and Elettra early on and the relationship with Adrian was predictable. I found the fight for the convent kept me gripped but the ending was a bit of an anticlimax and it was sort of glossed over how the villagers were won round. The recipes did not add anything for me and they all seemed pretty repetitive. I also could not understand why the names of Elettra, Edda and Adrian did not start with capital letters whereas everybody else's did! For me, an OK read, but not as exciting as I had hoped for.

Thank you for the opportunity to read the book. Excellent and relatable characters. Felt like was in Italy and the mentions of food made me want to eat! Enjoyable read and highly recommended