Our latest book club pick was The Temptation of Gracie by Santa Montefiore. Mainly set in Tuscany it’s a second-chance story about love, family bonds and friendship that spans fifty-five years.
What is The Temptation of Gracie about?
Sixty-eight-year-old widow Gracie Burton is a dependable soul living in Devon. A person Badley Compton residents can rely on to get things done. She’s quiet, goes about her business and doesn’t kick up a fuss. Even if she hardly hears from her London-based career-driven daughter, Carina or her teenage granddaughter, Anastasia who attends a prestigious boarding school.
But then Gracie spots an advert to learn to cook authentic Italian cooking in a Tuscan castle. It fires up a long-forgotten desire to be daring. Nobody can believe mild-manner Gracie is set on this ridiculous notion. She must be stopped. But Gracie has other ideas. Besides, it’s not the first time Gracie has visited Tuscany or Castello Montefosco. Not that anybody else knows that.
What did our book club think?
We enjoyed the visual writing style with its vivid descriptions of both Tuscany and Devon. The reader is easily transported to La Colomba, Castello Montefosco, the cookery school and Badley Compton.
Montefiore is very adept at creating strong character arcs across the 1950s and 2010 timelines. There was a lovely camaraderie between the younger Gracie and her art teacher Rutger and we particularly enjoyed how this relationship developed and was resolved. The characters at the cookery school were fun and also provided entertaining and life affirming moments.
We particularly loved how the relationships between Gracie, her daughter and granddaughter developed. One member was brought to tears at Carina’s realisation that she’d been a neglectful daughter. For us, this family dynamic was at the heart of the story and far more powerful than Gracie’s love story.
And to demonstrate the power of writing, one book club member was so inspired by the recipes and cooking in the novel, that they brought a homemade cake to the next meeting. And it was delicious.
Was there anything we didn’t like?
The group did feel the novel was let down by the Flappy Scott-Booth storyline. We understood why the beginning of the novel was set in Devon. However, dragging the reader away from the main events in Italy and back to Badley Compton halfway through jarred. And the same went for the final chapter. The novel is centred on Gracie, so returning to Devon felt both irrelevant and worse, clunky. As readers we weren’t bothered about this storyline. It felt shoehorned in to create a Flappy Scott-Booth spin-off novel. It detracted from what could have been a five-star read.
Who will enjoy it?
This novel will certainly suit readers who love romance, travel and uplifting escapism. It will appeal to anyone who enjoys stories about family reconnection, personal courage and the healing power of food. It’s perfect for those who want a warm and hopeful ending.
Comparable Authors
If you love the following authors, we believe you’ll love The Temptation of Gracie.
- Karen Swan
- Jojo Moyes
- Kate Morton
- Rachel Hore
Final Thoughts
Overall, we all agreed The Temptation of Gracie by Santa Montefiore was beautifully written. This is escapism at its best. We’d happily recommend this novel and we’ll certainly seek out other stories by this author. In fact, one of our group already has.