Call me biased but when an Italian author shows up on this list I always break into a smile. Usually I can relate to these books more as Malta is very similar in both environment and people and the translations are very good as Italian is a relatively easy language to convert into English. However I am going to say that I have some mixed feelings about Troubling Love.
Delia discovers that her mother, Amalia, has committed suicide by drowning and further inspection finds out that the only thing she was wearing was a very fancy bra. Delia is puzzled on why her mother would do such a thing and decides to return to Naples and uncover the secrets of her mother’s past.
In the process Delia begins to discover that her mother did actually have a secret life and she wonders if it has anything to do with the past so Delia reminisces about childhood events and friends. Eventually she remembers why her parents split, Amalia’s close friendship with her father’s business partner and ultimately her own relationship with Amalia. All which lead to a startling discovery about herself.
On the whole the Troubling Love is a deeply psychological novel and also a sensuous one and there were a great many passages which I loved reading but I felt that it didn’t hold together as well as it should , something was lacking. But as I said I enjoyed reading it, I just could immerse myself completely.
The Bobsphere 