My enormous thanks to Natasha Gill at Harper Collins for sending me a copy of The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick in return for an honest review. I’m delighted to share that review today.

I first discovered Phaedra’s writing when I reviewed The Book Share in a post you’ll find here.

Published in paperback by HQ on 20th July 2023, The Little Italian Hotel is available for purchase through the links here.

The Little Italian Hotel

Ginny Splinter, acclaimed radio host and relationship expert, prides herself on knowing what’s best for others. So, she’s sure her husband, Adrian, will love the special trip to Italy she’s planned for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. But when Ginny presents the gift, he surprises her with his own very different plan: a divorce.

Beside herself with heartache, Ginny impulsively goes live on air to invite four heartbroken listeners to join her instead. From hiking the hills of Bologna to sharing a gondola in Venice and dancing until dawn, Ginny and her guests embark on a holiday of full of fun, hope and healing.

Sunny, tender and brimming with charm, The Little Italian Hotel explores love, the importance of friendship, and reclaiming the present moment – even if it means leaving the past behind.

My Review of The Little Italian Hotel

Radio agony aunt Ginny Splinter might need her own advice!

It’s difficult to articulate, but I didn’t somehow notice reading The Little Italian Hotel. It felt so smooth and effortless a read, filled with such warmth and friendship that it was more like the experience of being with Ginny and her eclectic band of the heart-broken than actually reading about them. In fact, I found myself shouting at Ginny towards the end of the story, hoping she’s heed my advice and quite forgetting she couldn’t actually hear me.

The plot of The Little Italian Hotel is just lovely. As Ginny travels to Italy the simple events portrayed here feel real and believable and yet the underlying messages and themes are profound and affecting. Who would have thought a bit of sewing or a game of bingo could have such an emotional impact! What Phaedra Patrick achieve so beautifully, is an understanding of how grief impacts people in different ways and how one event might mean nothing to one individual but be devastating to another. She shows so sensitively how we can’t always step into another person’s shoes and understand them fully. Ginny herself needs to learn that she isn’t even dealing with her own life effectively, let alone sorting out others’ problems.

Alongside grief and healing as themes, there’s a sensitive, mature and intelligent exploration of social media, online dating, self-help, acceptance of others and the need to understand ourselves that s not only hugely entertaining, but frequently very emotional too. Curtis holds a special place in this, but you need to read The Little Italian Hotel to find out why.

The Italian setting is glorious. There’s the chance to travel to Bologna, Florence and Venice vicariously and Nico in particular makes the reader ravenous through the wonderful rustic food he provides at the Hotel Splendido. Phaedra Patrick has a brilliant eye for detail and creates such vivid impressions on the senses that it is as if you’re seeing, touching, hearing, tasting and smelling everything that Ginny and the others experience.

I thought the range of characters from 17 year old Loretta to 80 year old Edna was brilliantly balanced. They are all gradually uncovered as they develop over the story so that it is impossible not to become passionate about what happens to them and to care deeply about each one. I even found my perceptions of Adrian changing as the narrative progressed, but it was Edna who truly captured my heart because she epitomises the concept that age is just a number.

I thought The Little Italian Hotel was a wonderful story. Forget cancelled flights and crowded airports. Just read this book and you (and your heart) will have all the rest and recuperation needed.

About Phaedra Patrick

Phaedra qualified firstly as a stained glass artist before gaining her professional Marketing qualifications. She has worked as a waitress, stained glass designer, film festival organiser and communications manager.

She is a self-taught author who enjoyed her first real writing success when she entered and won several short story competitions. She now writes full time from her home in Saddleworth.

For further information, visit Phaedra’s website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter @phaedrapatrick and Instagram.