Ciao Bella

'You really must read... Ciao Bella.' Sunday Times 'Fascinating... comic... delightful' Sunday Times 'Humorous... rich and satisfying.' Daily Telegraph 'Beautifully written, it made me laugh and I wanted to follow in Helena's footsteps round Italy.' Kate Figes 'A travel book with a difference.' Coventry Evening Telegraph 'An ideal stocking filler.' Evening Standard (Glasgow) 'Brilliant.' BBC Radio Oxford Shabina Akhtar 'I defy anyone not to enjoy it.' Harrow Observer In this exceptional travel book, Helena Frith Powell travels through Italy with her father to discover the Italian family she never knew about. In a rare twist of fate, Helena Frith Powell grew up in Newbury as a shy girl, oblivious of her extrovert Italian family. But, at the age of 14, she was suddenly rudely awakened to the truth, when her real father wrote to her and invited her to come to Italy. Her Italian-style adolescence is guided by her Lothario father, her lying aunt and her doting grandmother. While writing this memoir fourteen years later, she reestablishes contact with her father, who ran out of her wedding, and finally finds their common ground. In this funny, moving and entertaining journey to the places she visited with her father, Helena combines descriptions of Italy, its food, fashion, culture and people to get to grips with a foreign culture that is genetically her own.

Auteur

Helena Frith Powell is a regular contributor to the national press from the Times and Telegraph to the Daily Mail. She is based in the UK and France, and has lived in Scandinavia, the US, Dubai and Italy. Previous bestsellers include, Two Lipsticks and a Lover, More More France, Love in a Warm Climate, and Ciao Bella.

Résumé
'You really must read Ciao Bella.' Sunday Times 'Fascinating comic delightful' Sunday Times 'Humorous rich and satisfying.' Daily Telegraph 'Beautifully written, it made me laugh and I wanted to follow in Helena's footsteps round Italy.' Kate Figes 'A travel book with a difference.' Coventry Evening Telegraph 'An ideal stocking filler.' Evening Standard (Glasgow) 'Brilliant.' BBC Radio Oxford Shabina Akhtar 'I defy anyone not to enjoy it.' Harrow Observer In this exceptional travel book, Helena Frith Powell travels through Italy with her father to discover the Italian family she never knew about. In a rare twist of fate, Helena Frith Powell grew up in Newbury as a shy girl, oblivious of her extrovert Italian family. But, at the age of 14, she was suddenly rudely awakened to the truth, when her real father wrote to her and invited her to come to Italy. Her Italian-style adolescence is guided by her Lothario father, her lying aunt and her doting grandmother. While writing this memoir fourteen years later, she reestablishes contact with her father, who ran out of her wedding, and finally finds their common ground. In this funny, moving and entertaining journey to the places she visited with her father, Helena combines descriptions of Italy, its food, fashion, culture and people to get to grips with a foreign culture that is genetically her own.

Contenu

Prologue 5 1. Two Hundred and Forty Steps 9 2. Nothing Gay about Gabriel 52 3. Fish and Fidelity 72 4. A Date with Caravaggio 103 5. Birds Obsessed with Sex 120 6. Truffles with Everything 150 7. Dinner with a Princess 162 8. An Erotic Tour of Venice 182 9. A Figure in Black and Blue 205 10. On Rimini Beach 221 11. Tea at the Grand Hotel 251 12. Unconditional Love 267 Afterword 286