One Summer In Rome by Samantha Tonge

Are You Nodding?

One Summer In Rome by Samantha Tonge is a wonderful contemporary novel that focuses on kindness, family and belonging.

The reader escapes for a few hours to the sights, sounds and smells of Rome. Tantalizing descriptions enable the reader to ‘see’ the pizzeria’s and almost touch the delicacies on offer.

The story is about family. We all long to belong. Family chooses to love and to protect all members. Family encourages. “We all have the potential to achieve whatever we want.” Family are those we choose to have in our inner circle.

We are all fighting battles from the past – consuming ourselves with guilt, regret or longing. “There is nothing comfortable about regrets.” The past is gone. “Dwelling on the past serves no purpose.” We need to put down our baggage and move forward.

To protect ourselves, we build walls that have the potential to become prisons. We need to demolish the walls and learn to live and love and trust again. “That shell… was beginning to crack.”

There is the difficult topic of domestic abuse. “Gender is irrelevant when it comes to this sort of thing.” Domestic abuse is not our fault. We should not feel ashamed and must always seek help to stand up to the abuser.

People are prejudiced. We must never judge others. We must love them.

Another theme is that of disabilities. Too often people see the disability and not the person. They label others under a blanket heading. We must look beyond the label and see the individual.

The characters are wonderfully drawn. One Summer In Rome was a light hearted novel in spite of some serious themes. There was some highly amusing banter to entertain the reader. There were also a couple of dogs who wove their way into the readers hearts.

One Summer In Rome is a really fun read that tackles contemporary issues in a sensitive way.

I will leave you with my favourite quote:

“Kindness was the most powerful tool available to humans.”

I received this book for free from Net Galley. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

JULIA WILSON

 

 

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