Sally Brady's Italian Adventure - by Christina Lynch (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A fresh breeze of wit and glamour." --The Wall Street Journal

"Richly evocative of the charms and contradictions of Italy. Brava!" --Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author

"A gorgeously entertaining story about a spirited woman during wartime that manages to be a clever caper at times but taut and profound at others"*

What if you found yourself in the middle of a war armed only with lipstick and a sense of humor? Abandoned as a child in Los Angeles in 1931, dust bowl refugee Sally Brady convinces a Hollywood movie star to adopt her, and grows up to be an effervescent gossip columnist secretly satirizing Europe's upper crust. By 1940 saucy Sally is conquering Fascist-era Rome with cheek and charm.

A good deed leaves Sally stranded in wartime Italy, brandishing a biting wit, a fake passport, and an elastic sense of right and wrong. To save her friends and find her way home through a land of besieged castles and villas, Sally must combat tragedy with comedy, tie up pompous bureaucrats in their own red tape, force the cruel to be kind, and unravel the mystery, weight, and meaning of family. Heir to Odysseus's wiles and Candide's optimism, Sally Brady is a heroine for the 21st century.

Review Quotes

"A fresh breeze of wit and glamour."
--The Wall Street Journal

"[A] powerful story of wealth, poverty, danger and near-death."
--FIRST for Women monthly book club

"This fun romp goes back in time to the glory days of old Hollywood."
--Lee Woodruff

"A gorgeously entertaining story about a spirited woman during wartime that manages to be a clever caper at times but taut and profound at others, while always richly evocative of the charms and contradictions of Italy. Brava!"
--Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author

"Packed with gusto, wit, and a compelling pace."
--Conan O'Brien

"Part madcap romp, part World War II thriller--ridiculously entertaining and utterly engrossing!"
--Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Be Frank With Me

"[A] witty, gritty, outrageous and courageous heroine."
--Virginia Hume, author of Haven Point

"Bridgerton meets Italo Calvino...."
--Peter Gumbel, author of Citizens of Everywhere

"Highly entertaining...Sally Brady takes hold of this narrative and never lets go. Part Hollywood gossip magazine, war novel, Italian travelogue, and hero's adventure...wonderfully written."
--Jessica Barksdale Inclán, author of The Play's the Thing

"An ambitious, rags-to-riches fantasy with a delicious melange of movie stars, countesses, artists, farmers, gossip columnists, maids, soldiers, dictators and other colorful characters at every turn. I loved it!"
--Glynis Costin, former Milan Bureau Chief of W and WWD

"Equally funny and heartbreaking... Entertaining to the very last page, and as full of joy, pathos, and beauty as Italy itself..."
--Andromeda Romano-Lax, author of The Spanish Bow

"Glamour, romance, humor and peril combine to make the zippy Sally Brady's Italian Adventure a novel that will tickle you pink."
--Diane Leslie, Diesel Bookstore

About the Author

Christina Lynch's picaresque journey includes chapters in Chicago and at Harvard, where she was an editor on the Harvard Lampoon. She was the Milan correspondent for W magazine and Women's Wear Daily, and disappeared for four years in Tuscany. In L.A. she was on the writing staff of Unhappily Ever After; Encore, Encore; The Dead Zone and Wildfire. She now lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada where she teaches at College of the Sequoias. Lynch is also the author of The Italian Party.