Guest Review: The Food of Love Cookery School by Nicky Pellegrino

In the sun-drenched Sicilian hills, four women learn the lessons of a lifetime at the Food of Love Cookery School.

In a remote Sicilian mountain town, four women arrive at a cookery school, each at a turning point in their lives.

Moll is a foodie and an exhausted working mum on the holiday of a lifetime. Tricia, a top London lawyer is taking a break from the demands of her job and her family. Valerie, consumed by grief following the death of her partner, is trying to figure out how to live a life without him. And recently divorced Poppy has come to Sicily to learn about the place that her grandfather was born before emigrating to Australia.

Luca Amore runs the school, using the recipes passed down to him by generations of Amore women. He expects this course to be much like all the others - but as sparks fly, friendships are made and secrets are shared. And for each of them nothing will ever be the same.

Review: I have read and enjoyed a few of Nicky Pellegrino’s books, and always look forward to a trip to Italy, with some delicious food thrown in. This book should attract anyone with its inviting cover bursting with lemons and speaking of Sicily. I ‘read’ it via as the audio version and found it quite compulsive listening, getting through its pages in a few short hours.

The story is set in Luca Amore’s cookery school in the small Sicilian town of Favio. The courses Luca runs are residential, people from the four corners of the world spending a week at a time not just cooking but at the same time learning about the tastes and sights of Sicily. On this course, four women from England, the USA and Australia have arrived. They are a diverse and interesting group in background and age, and, as the story progresses, we learn more about them and the back stories that each one brings with them. As the days pass, personalities clash, friendships develop and Luca finds himself drawn to one of the group in particular. However, one local lady is not at all happy about this blossoming relationship.

I found this book a really enjoyable read, in which the author very successfully transported me to the rugged mountains of Sicily. Her skilful writing had me practically tasting the delicious, mouthwatering food and marvelling at the scenery. The characters she has developed, including the cookery school group and the locals, are very varied, but all strong and realistic. I particularly liked the way that chapters are written from a different person’s perspective giving the reader an almost personal insight into each character’s thinking and development. Each lady certainly ends the week having learned something about themselves. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with a love of cookery, a love of Italy, or just a desire to be taken away from everyday life for a few hours.

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