Book Review: Hearty and delicious, this is a square meal of a lovely book

Coincidences beyond reason, of just the kind you’re bound to have an example of from your own life. Both love and art are lost and found.

There are exquisite handmade globes and a cantankerous parrot that talks more than it should.

And yet, this novel is grounded in reality. Starting in Italy, with a chance meeting at the end of the Second World War between Miss Evelyn Skinner and Private Ulysses Temper, it weaves both their stories together with those of a crowd of other entertaining characters. Affectionate love is at the heart of it all, in these involved and faithful friendships.

Behind the individuals’ tales, is the backdrop of the changing world in the decades after the end of the war.

Real events and catastrophes frame and fuel the personal narratives. There’s opportunity and heartbreak, luck, passion and food. This is a square meal of a book. Hearty and delicious.

Ulysses is named for a greyhound - a winning greyhound - but in truth, he’s a hero. A kind and loving survivor, he takes risks because he cares, and holds people close without needing to control them.

Evelyn is decades older but made of the same stuff. Their friendship forms quickly, in circumstances that allow them meet outwith the usual conventions, but neither of them cares much for sticking to social expectations.

Separately, and in different ways, they each step outside of societal norms to find their family of friends and lead the life that’s right for them.

Their choices explore and challenge the roles demanded of women and men, unpacking the loss caused by constraints and obligations.

Set between Italy and London, the city of Florence is as much a character as the parrot is, a generous host with an open house and a well-stocked wine cellar. This novel is an extended toast to friendship and freedom.

The author has created “a conspiracy of beauty everywhere,” reflecting the riches available from the pain and possibility of life fully lived.