Caterer Claire is fed up being taken for granted by her husband, son and daughter-in-law. Ballbuster businesswoman Angela has lost control of her own company. Flamboyant interior designer Sylvie has discovered her husband is having an affair with the intern, while librarian Monica needs to escape her overbearing mother. The four women end up staying together in a mutual associate’s villa in Italy, where their eyes are turned by the flirtatious men and the stunning scenery. But it seems they are unable to escape the people from back home for long.
This story revolves around a group of sixty-something women, all with their own issues and hang-ups, all needing to have a break from their lives. The scenery is a star of the book - from the luxurious villa and lemon groves, to the coastal villages and their hair-raising roads. It just goes to show: when life serves you lemons, you make an aperitif to enjoy on a glorious holiday in the sun.
Maeve Haran takes us on a trip to Italy with her latest novel, An Italian Holiday. The summary says: "Springtime in glorious southern Italy can go to your head. Especially if you are escaping an overbearing husband, the embarrassingly public loss of your company, an interfering mother who still tries to run your life or the pain of a husband's affair with a girl young enough to be his daughter.
As the Italian sun ripens the lemons in the groves that tumble down the hillsides and the Mediterranean dazzles beneath them, assertive Angela, extrovert Sylvie, unconfident Claire and mousy Monica find burgeoning friendship and begin to blossom in quite unexpected ways.
Packed with memorable characters - from the acid-tongued Grand Old Man of Modern Art who lives next door - to the aspiring gigolo who thinks nothing of a forty year age gap, Maeve Haran's new novel is a witty and entertaining reminder of why going a little mad in the sun can sometimes be exactly what you need." An Italian Holiday is out in June 2017.