Yet another excellent read by Rosanne Ley.

A dual timeline book, Marilyn a young girl in 1965 works in the local Dorset Hotel, in her spare time she likes to paint, one day on the beach she meets Bruno a young Italian and falls in love. Bruno has to return to Italy, but promises her he will come back for her.

50 years later, Marilyn's daughter Lily visits her mother after her Aunt asks her to, and find that she is dying. After her death, she starts to clear the house, under the mattress she finds drawing of a young baby Josephine and a semi precious stone wrapped in a bag. Eventually her Aunt tells her the story of Marilyn.... how she fell pregnant and was sent away to have the baby who was adopted.

Lily decides to search for her half-sister... in Italy.

A great story

I really enjoyed this book. I have read previous books by Rosanna and knew that this would be just as good.
The story is starts in 1965, and the descriptions and emotions of the characters make it feel like you are right there with them. The Italian setting was perfect.

This is a story of lost love, missed chances, and most of all – family.
In 1965 free spirited Marilyn falls in love with Italian Bruno and they embark on a brief but passionate affair. Bruno swears to return when he heads back to Italy, and Marilyn promises to wait. But then she discovers she is pregnant and is forced by her family to give the baby up for adoption. Years later we meet Marilyn on her deathbed, with her younger daughter Lily caring for the mother she feels she never really knew. And once she dies, the secrets of her life before begin to come out, and piecing the clues together Lily travels to Italy to find her older sister Josephine.
Both Dorset and The Bay of Poets in Liguria are exquisitely drawn, especially the village of Perlarosa where most of the story takes place. And this not just in terms of the stunning scenery, but of the people who inhabit it too, each and every one of them having their part to pay.
As ever I am wary of saying too much, for fear of spoiling this wonderful story, but I do thoroughly recommend it. My heart will remain in Perlarosa for a very long time.

oh be still my beating readers heart. what i can tell you about Rosanna's book is bot worthy of her books. i wouldnt begin to do her justice. she is just so gooooood. her words. her books. her plots. all perfection. i am swept in and away with each one and have had the addictive pleasure of reading(a must) through every single one of them. they are each different but with the same seamless and transportive prose that Rosanna does so excellently. she is surely one of the best. and is definitely one of my best
the characters all drew me in like i new they would. but Josephine oh boy did she have my heart in such a bind.
this book took me to many emotions as well as the destinations. and by the end i cared so deeply for where the characters were headed. and i wanted so much for them all to be ok. and for Josephine especially i needed her to find just where she belonged and for at long last face more than that horrid feeling of rejection.
another stunning and perfect book.

I enjoy Rosanna Ley's books and this was no exception. The setting in Italy was perfectly drawn and the author really captured the poignancy of how it is to be an adopted child and a daughter of a mother grieving for a lost baby. I did find the sections where Bruno reminisced could have done with being headed 'Bruno' as the other chapters were headed as I think this would have made it clearer earlier who it was. I don't see what was added by making it unclear. However it did not detract from my enjoyment and I would recommend.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested The Italian Flame because 1) Rosanna Ley is one of Mum’s favourite authors and I’d never read any of her books before and 2) I love reading books set in Italy. This was a really beautiful family saga which captivated my attention all the way through. I enjoyed the descriptions of the Gulf of La Spezia (Gulf of Poets) and the fictional Perlarosa.

I liked all of the characters but Josephine just stole my heart because she’s had so much rejection in her life and it was lovely to follow her as she discovered the truth behind her adoption and opened up to Lily and Angelo. I definitely want to read more by this author.