Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham
like my life, a novel that’s half tragedy, half farce
Tag: tuscany
D. H. Lawrence and Italy
I review a Lawrentian travel writing collection containing Twilight in Italy, Sea and Sardinia and Sketches of Etruscan Places.
Mrs Rosie and the Priest by Giovanni Boccaccio
I don’t know if anyone else likes little books as much as I do, but I’ve been particularly charmed recentlyContinue Reading
Distracted Holiday Book Review: The Fields by Kevin Maher and Season One of Game of Thrones
Kevin Maher’s The Fields is a hilarious, moving and impressively broad coming of age novel set (mostly in Dublin) inContinue Reading
On Cocaine at the Hay-on-Wye Festival
I stumbled, heady on free cheese and Spanish lager, into a temporary toilet cubicle at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival, lockedContinue Reading
On Santa Croce With No Baedeker
Rather lamely, Florence is probably the non-British city I know best. It’s full of beautiful, wonderful buildings, sculptures and paintings,Continue Reading
On Daniel Craig as James Bond on Roofs
I was up a tower in Siena this afternoon and was gifted this beautiful view of the red-tiled roofs ofContinue Reading
On the rolling hills of Tuscany
I’m spending a short spell off Shit Island*, which is always pleasant. Even leaving it to be in a countryContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 