Priscilla (Cilla) Messing knows Italy will be just the escape she needs from her current life of caring for her difficult mother (after caring for her father and losing her sister). Asked by her brother-in-law to join him and Cilla's niece, Hannah, in Rome, Cilla isn't sure she wants to do nothing but babysit her wayward teenage niece. So instead, Cilla goes to Rom and relishes the heady atmosphere of an Italian summer and starts to feel like she's coming back to life. However, being so close to Hannah, and an Italian boy Hannah has a crush on, starts Cilla into a spiral of bad decisions.
This is an edgy insight into the life of a character, but also an insight into what it means to be a woman who is getting older and feeling like life has been passing her by. Cilla reflects upon her past and at times, uses that to justify her decisions in the present, which has dangerous results.
The author does a great job of making the setting every bit as important as a supporting character. When Cilla goes to Italy, the summer weather is steamy and sultry, and Cilla often flushes with heat. There's an oppressiveness to this heat at times that permeates the story, and you can feel Cilla pressing against it, even as she seems to relish it.
For readers who enjoy the taut styling of Patricia Highsmith. I actually did not care for this book much, but it was mostly because I did not enjoy Cilla --- reading this was like watching an accident in slow-motion. I was curious enough to know what happened, even though I knew there would be no happy ending here.
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