Happy Ending
A Novel
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- 12,99 €
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- 12,99 €
Publisher Description
The arrival of a mysterious young stranger disrupts the lives of a wealthy, unhappy family
Ever since he was a little boy, Aldo Rugani has been drawn to the world of the aristocracy. Now an art dealer with a questionable past, Aldo finds himself a regular guest at the Tuscan estate of the affluent but unstable Santini family. He also works his way into the confidence of the clan’s elderly but very much alive matriarch, Violante. Tough and indomitable, the grande dame is determined to see that her troubled family has a secure future before she dies.
As an outsider, Aldo can only watch as the family members mindlessly self-destruct. He pines for Lavinia, Violante’s much-adored, romantically reckless widowed daughter-in-law. But on one particular weekend holiday in Tuscany, a young visitor comes to the Santini estate. A friend of Lavinia’s son, Marco intends only to stop over briefly. But before he departs, everything will be different for the hapless Santinis.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Carefully crafted, this lighthearted comedy of manners by the Italian author of The House on Moon Lake revolves around a weekend in Tuscany. Spoiled Lavinia Santini has returned to the house where, many years earlier, she was briefly and unhappily married, then widowed. Nearby, on the same estate, live her dotty mother-in-law, the Santini matriarch; Lavinia's pessimistic brother-in-law, Leopoldo, who runs the family business; and his sexually repressed, American wife, Cynthia. Their comings and goings are observed with deep interest by neighbor Aldo, a cagey art dealer who made a substantial fortune ``upgrading paintings'' in his previous career as an art forger. When Marco, a friend of Lavinia's college-age son, shows up on her doorstep and asks to spend the night, he manages to become sexually involved with almost every member of the Santini household--revitalizing Leopoldo and Cynthia's flagging marriage, strengthening Aldo's long if unrequited love for Lavinia. Poking gentle fun at the Italian bourgeoisie, Duranti suggests that even the most miserable of individuals can find happiness given the right circumstances.
