The Italian LoverThe Italian Lover
a Novel
Title rated 3 out of 5 stars, based on 2 ratings(2 ratings)
Book, 2007
Current format, Book, 2007, 1st ed, No Longer Available.Book, 2007
Current format, Book, 2007, 1st ed, No Longer Available. Offered in 0 more formatsMargot Harrington, an American woman living in Italy, is drawn even deeper into that irresistible and unknowable country.
The force beckoning her is a movie called The Italian Lover, based on a story Margot lived and made into a book some twenty-five years earlier. Now, at last, that book is on its way to film, and Margot sees a role in helping the producer understand her story.
But of course no movie is true to the life it is based on, and Margot is drawn deep into a new set of dreams being assembled for the screen. In the beautiful cafes and streets of Florence, where Margot and her new lover, Woody, are finding their way together, Margot is caught up in conflicts and dramas she could never have imagined. As she comes to know the producer, the director, the actress who will play her, and everyone else working to give her story new life, Margot confronts her ideas about the past, about love, about home, about everything. Romantic affairs, a marriage, and even a divorce are witnessed and blessed. By the end of Robert Hellenga's new novel, the film called The Italian Lover has taken on a life of its own. But this book is about much more than a movie. It's about love and death and memory and desire - the ways lives are launched, enjoyed, endured, and made meaningful.
An exhilarating novel of romance, art, and food in Florence, featuring the beloved Margot Harrington, who graced Robert Hellenga's The Sixteen Pleasures. Margot Harrington's memoir about her discovery in Florence of a priceless masterwork of Renaissance erotica - and the misguided love affair it inspired - is now, 25 years later, being made into a movie. Margot, with the help of her lover, Woody, writes a script that she thinks will validate her life. Of course their script is not used, but never mind - happy endings are the best endings for movies, as Margot eventually comes to see. At the former convent in Florence where "The Sixteen Pleasures" - now called "The Italian Lover," - is being filmed, Margot enters into a drama she never imagined, where her ideas of home, love, art, and aging collide with the imperatives of commerce and the unknowability of other cultures and other people.
Twenty-five years after stumbling upon a priceless work of Renaissance erotica in Florence, a discovery that led her into a misguided love affair, Margot Harrington joins forces with her lover, Woody, to write a screenplay based on her experiences, and finds herself challenged by new concepts of home, love, art, and aging. 25,000 first printing.
Twenty-five years after stumbling upon a priceless work of Renaissance erotica in Florence, a discovery that led her into a misguided love affair, Margot Harrington joins forces with her lover, Woody, to write a screenplay based on her experiences.
The force beckoning her is a movie called The Italian Lover, based on a story Margot lived and made into a book some twenty-five years earlier. Now, at last, that book is on its way to film, and Margot sees a role in helping the producer understand her story.
But of course no movie is true to the life it is based on, and Margot is drawn deep into a new set of dreams being assembled for the screen. In the beautiful cafes and streets of Florence, where Margot and her new lover, Woody, are finding their way together, Margot is caught up in conflicts and dramas she could never have imagined. As she comes to know the producer, the director, the actress who will play her, and everyone else working to give her story new life, Margot confronts her ideas about the past, about love, about home, about everything. Romantic affairs, a marriage, and even a divorce are witnessed and blessed. By the end of Robert Hellenga's new novel, the film called The Italian Lover has taken on a life of its own. But this book is about much more than a movie. It's about love and death and memory and desire - the ways lives are launched, enjoyed, endured, and made meaningful.
An exhilarating novel of romance, art, and food in Florence, featuring the beloved Margot Harrington, who graced Robert Hellenga's The Sixteen Pleasures. Margot Harrington's memoir about her discovery in Florence of a priceless masterwork of Renaissance erotica - and the misguided love affair it inspired - is now, 25 years later, being made into a movie. Margot, with the help of her lover, Woody, writes a script that she thinks will validate her life. Of course their script is not used, but never mind - happy endings are the best endings for movies, as Margot eventually comes to see. At the former convent in Florence where "The Sixteen Pleasures" - now called "The Italian Lover," - is being filmed, Margot enters into a drama she never imagined, where her ideas of home, love, art, and aging collide with the imperatives of commerce and the unknowability of other cultures and other people.
Twenty-five years after stumbling upon a priceless work of Renaissance erotica in Florence, a discovery that led her into a misguided love affair, Margot Harrington joins forces with her lover, Woody, to write a screenplay based on her experiences, and finds herself challenged by new concepts of home, love, art, and aging. 25,000 first printing.
Twenty-five years after stumbling upon a priceless work of Renaissance erotica in Florence, a discovery that led her into a misguided love affair, Margot Harrington joins forces with her lover, Woody, to write a screenplay based on her experiences.
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- New York : Little, Brown, 2007.
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