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Title details for Hotel Portofino by J. P. O'Connell - Available

Hotel Portofino

#1 in series

by J. P. O'Connell
Esther Wane
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

For fans of Downton Abbey and The Crown ... welcome to Hotel Portofino, where romance, revelry, and intrigue await.

Hotel Portofino is now a six-episode TV series that began airing on PBS on May 19, 2022.

A heady historical drama about a British family who open an upper-class hotel on the magical Italian Riviera during the Roaring Twenties

Hotel Portofino has been open for only a few weeks, but already the problems are mounting for its owner Bella Ainsworth. Her high-class guests are demanding and hard to please. And she's being targeted by a scheming and corrupt local politician, who threatens to drag her into the red-hot cauldron of Mussolini's Italy.

To make matters worse, her marriage is in trouble, and her children are still struggling to recover from the repercussions of the Great War. All eyes are on the arrival of a potential love match for her son Lucian, but events don't go to plan, which will have far-reaching consequences for the whole family.

Set in the breathtakingly beautiful Italian Riviera, Hotel Portofino is a story of personal awakening at a time of global upheaval and of the liberating influence of Italy's enchanting culture, climate, and cuisine on British "innocents abroad."

  • Creators

  • Series

    Hotel Portofino

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 18, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798200816668
      • File size: 338135 KB
      • Duration: 11:44:26

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      January 1, 2022

      Leaving London behind for sunny Italy, Bella Ainsworth has finally realized her dream of opening an elegant hotel in Portofino. With her marriage to Cecil strained, her daughter Alice a war widow, and her son Lucian literally bearing the scars of the Great War, Bella hopes this move will be good for all of them. Once they've opened their doors, though, Bella finds that running the hotel and caring for demanding guests is far more challenging and expensive than she expected. On top of that she is being blackmailed by the local fascist bureaucrat, her husband is trying to arrange a marriage between his old paramour's daughter and Lucian, and her daughter remains as grim as ever. As Cecil schemes to alleviate his own money troubles, a valuable painting goes missing, and all of the guests are suspects. VERDICT Already slated to air as a TV series on PBS, O'Connell's (The Ethiopian) historical novel, brimming with drama, romance, and intrigue set on the beautiful Italian Riviera during the 1920s, is perfect for fans of Downton Abbey. It also includes a diverse cast of characters and deftly addresses the prejudices of the era.--Melissa DeWild

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from August 1, 2022

      This book will likely become another hit period drama series for PBS in 2022, after its British launch last year, and it will be no surprise to anyone who listens to the audio version of this book. In 1920s Italy, Bella and Cecil Ainsworth have opened a hotel catering to other Brits who want to get away to the Italian coast but don't want to give up their tea and social status. Before long, we learn the dark undercurrents of each of the guests and the tensions among the locals, the hotel staff and the visiting gentry. There are also rumblings of fascism within the town. The plot moves along at a sedate pace, as the cast is the main attraction of the book. The period evokes the style of Downton Abbey with the charm and warmth of the Italian coast. With so many characters, it takes a great voice actor to help listeners keep them straight. Esther Wane does just this with a delightful British accent as well as dialects that are appropriate for the characters. VERDICT Highly recommended for public libraries of all sizes.--Gretchen Pruett

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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