Hotel Portofino

The English Hotel in Italy. Bella opens Hotel Portofino on the Italian Riviera for English guests. This is something she has dreamed of and wishes to make it a success. It is not going so well for Bella. The guests are demanding and the local policeman, who is one of the black shirt fascists is not kind to the hotel or to Bella. Money is tight, and the wealthy girl she wishes her son to marry is not working out well. Then she finds her husband owes some gambling debts he cannot repay. Bella is at wit's end, and then more troubles show up. At a time of troubles for Bella's investment in the hotel, her marriage is also in trouble. This is a picture of a hotel with foreign visitors in a foreign place. It is a place of the different types of people and unfortunately too many different variables to count. Forbidden romances, stolen paintings, anti-fascist groups, then you have the fascist groups. Set in the rich and beautiful Italian Riviera, with the rich, the want to be rich, the locals and the servants this book is interesting from page one, it does not disappoint. I listened to the audio book and the narrator was very good, I enjoyed the voice and the narration. It brought the feel and the location of the hotel in forefront and I enjoyed the experience. I would recommend this book as a good read...or listen whichever you happen to prefer. Thanks to J.P. O'Connell for writing an interesting book, to Esther Wane for a great job narrating the book, to Blackstone Publishing for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me. This is a review of the audiobook.