The Tuscan Child Review

The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen is 336 page book covering the story of Joanna as she attempts to put together the truth of her fathers past.  Joanna is cleaning out her father's items from her old house when she finds a letter addressed to Sofia Bartoli in Italian.  This leaves Joanna confused as her father never mentioned anything of Sofia to her even after her mother died.  Joanna then travels to the town in Italy that her father mentions of to find out the truth.
The style that the Bowen writes this book is a simplistic form of writing, nothing to poetic or fancy.  However, Bowen shifts from writing from the view points of Joanna and the views of her father Hugo after his plane is shot down in Italy and is tended to by Sofia.  This is an interesting approach in that as the reader it leaves suspense as when the big action is coming, it is cut off when the chapter ends and the next chapter dives in to the other character's point of view.
Joanna reminds me a bit about myself as I read through her experiences.  She recalls of her quest to obtain knowledge and strive to be her best as a young child.  That was me when I was young where I cared about drinking in a plethora of knowledge whenever possible.  And her drive to be at her best 247 is something that I've always preached and it was pleasant to see that in her and it makes me feel like I'm a part of the story when the main character reminds me of myself.  Additionally, Joanna took matters into her ow hands when she chose to travel to Italy to find out her father's past.  she even took time to learn some Italian so that she could communicate with the citizens of Italy.  Even though she didn't speak a language she got around that learning the language to help her learn the past of her father.  And that spoke to me in that if you really show heart for something then no matter what the barrier is, it won't stop you.