Villa Coco

Absolute joy Sarah WinmanThe funniest of writers. . . Villa Coco is such a sunny book Kate AtkinsonEvery sentence in this novel sings David SedarisEccentric, funny, touching: I adored it Nina StibbeSheer, riotous, unmitigated joy Kiran Millwood HargraveBroke and directionless, our young protagonist takes a job in the Italian countryside as the assistant to Lisabetta - better known to her friends as Coco - a strong-willed, wealthy aristocrat of great local renown. Trained as an archivist, he thinks hes been hired to catalogue the contents of the beautiful, crumbling mansion nestled in the green Tuscan hills. But what?are?his actual duties? Days are spent in a series of increasingly eccentric pursuits: entertaining an endless carousel of guests (from bohemian painters to elderly princesses to unnervingly handsome nephews), attending a funeral in order to make off with the urn, and aiding and abetting Cocos great and final plan - to reunite with the lost love of her life before its too late. As summer turns into autumn and the Italian countryside begins to work its magic, the secrets of Villa Coco and its inhabitants are slowly brought to light - and with them, an unforgettable story of the enduring power of friendship. A charm novel for our times, Villa Coco is a sun-drenched paean to youth, to age and to the fulfilment of love - filled with great wisdom and a spirit of unadulterated joy.