Villa Coco

Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer showcases his wit and warmth in this life-enhancing tale of friendship set amidst the Tuscan hills. ´Absolute joy´ Sarah Winman ´The funniest of writers. . . Villa Coco is such a sunny book´ Kate Atkinson ´Every sentence in this novel sings´ David Sedaris ´Eccentric, funny, touching: I adored it´ Nina Stibbe ´Sheer, riotous, unmitigated joy´ Kiran Millwood Hargrave Broke and directionless, our young protagonist takes a job in the Italian countryside as the assistant to Lisabetta - better known to her friends as Coco - a strong-willed, wealthy aristocrat of great local renown. Trained as an archivist, he thinks he´s been hired to catalogue the contents of the beautiful, crumbling mansion nestled in the green Tuscan hills. But what are his actual duties? Days are spent in a series of increasingly eccentric pursuits: entertaining an endless carousel of guests (from bohemian painters to elderly princesses to unnervingly handsome nephews), attending a funeral in order to make off with the urn, and aiding and abetting Coco´s great and final plan - to reunite with the lost love of her life before it´s too late. As summer turns into autumn and the Italian countryside begins to work its magic, the secrets of Villa Coco and its inhabitants are slowly brought to light - and with them, an unforgettable story of the enduring power of friendship. A ´charm novel´ for our times, Villa Coco is a sun-drenched paean to youth, to age and to the fulfilment of love - filled with great wisdom and a spirit of unadulterated joy.