I just finished reading The Villa Dante by Elizabeth Edmondson. Four emotionally damaged English strangers are summoned to an Italian villa to learn what an unknown woman has left to them in her will. Sounds like it could be the plotline for a Twilight Zone episode, right? Instead, it’s a lyrical, magical book about love and friendship. I loved the characters, and I loved the Italian climate–these people were all thrilled to be leaving the cold, foggy winter of England for the warm, soft Italian spring. Which could say a lot for their emotional state, too.

Edmondson must have Spanish publishers; the only English edition I saw was the digital version. She’s very international: born in Chile, educated in Calcutta and London, she then went to Oxford. She lives in Oxford half-time and Rome half-time, so it’s no wonder she gets the Italy part so spot-on.

For those of you who are sick of cold and rainy or snowy winters, this might be the very thing to make you forget the weather for a few hours.