Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Ever since her twin sister returned to the family home, Bianca has felt more lost than ever. For the first time in her life, she’s not the only one taking care of her family. But her newfound freedom makes it impossible to stop thinking about Lorenzo. She has loved him since they met beneath a tree between their houses as children, but a long-seated family feud means they can never be together...
Determined to distract herself from her heartache, Bianca is delighted when she runs into a childhood friend, Brando, who secures her a job at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. And the more time she spends with him in the archives, cataloguing the museum’s precious library, the more she becomes captivated by his warm brown eyes. Maybe his gentle smile will heal her heart?
But when Bianca discovers a long-lost diary in the archives, written by a young woman who once lived in her family’s villa, she is gripped by the story of forbidden love that mirrors her own. As she reads, Bianca wonders whether she should take courage from this stranger’s story. But is Bianca’s chance for happiness already lost forever? Or is it not too late for her to heal the wounds of the past, and fight for the man she loves?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Tuscan Sister’s Secret to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Tuscan Sister’s Secret is the second in The Tuscan Sisters series by Daniela Sacerdoti. It’s a continuation from where book one left off but this time it focuses on Bianca, the twin of Lulu from book one. Within the first few pages readers are brought up to speed with events and the family’s current situation although without giving too much away which is good for new readers and for me it served as a refresher as to specific details and the timeline of events which I had previously enjoyed. This was a quick read which opened with a brief but tense prologue set in 1944 where a woman called Viola is in a room full of paintings as planes soar overhead and she is waiting for what she feels will be the inevitable but then we learn no more as we are taken forward to 1985 to Casalta the family home of the Falconeri sisters in Tuscany.
One thing that the author excels at throughout this book is bringing the Tuscan countryside and the city of Florence to life. The descriptions are rich and vivid without being cliched and you feel as if you have been transported to a different country and place where you can forget your daily life worries for awhile as you focus on the unravelling of Bianca’s story. The Falconeri sisters have recently buried their father and Lulu has returned to the family fold. The loss of their father was a relief for them as he had been a tyrant, a bully and a cruel cruel used to getting his own way and imposing fear and hatred upon others. His actions had torn the family apart and now they are finally reunited in more ways than one. Life should be good as Lulu is trying to get the family wine business back on track and the sisters are at last free to be who they wish to be. Yet for Bianca, there is an uneasiness about her, a restlessness even though their life situation had resolved itself. For many years with the forced absence of her twin she was the one who had to step in and look after her younger sisters. They relied on her and she would have done anything for them but now she is at a loss as to what to do. She runs a charity caring for the elderly with her close friend Camilla but as satisfying as this is there is more that she would like to do.
With her sisters finding their own ways in life now she must do the same and a long held ambition is to apply for a course in art restoration. Bianca was very down on herself. Change for her meant anxiety and that she is not good or clever enough and this made me want to give her a good shake and urge her to just get on with things. I think her fathers unhealthy and strong influence had inflicted so much pain on her that even though he was gone his shadow still lingered for her. This is why I felt she wasn’t as strong and as forthright as Lulu. I found her to be weak and having had to constantly walk on eggshells for so many years she hadn’t the will power to forge determinedly straightway onto a new path. Instead that took time and effort. Each of the sisters have a gift which I won’t delve into and usually I would roll my eyes and laugh at magical realism in a book but it worked here because of the subtleness in which it was interspersed with certain events in the story.
Bianca can see scenes and people from long ago flowing parallel to the current day but when Lulu left so did Bianca’s gift and it has not returned which is another issue which eats away at her and which has severely eroded her confidence. Not to mention there is also a love story which has many unresolved strands. Again something I won’t go into as it would ruin the book but I did think when she got the job at the museum in Florence that the romance element was going to go one way which I didn’t feel particularly comfortable with as I didn’t feel it was right for her. So it was interesting to see how this subplot was developed over the course of the book as it was definitely something that was nagging away at her and given the family history I couldn’t see how misunderstandings, feuds and secrets could be resolved. Bianca needed to look deep inside her and follow her heart but I thought perhaps she was too caught up in finding her gift again and the imprints of the past were still making their presence known in the present.
The timeslip element of the book brought us back to Viola who lived in Casalta during the war years. When Bianca finds her diary in the documents that she is archiving we get glimpses into Viola’s story and parallels emerge between the two young woman although they are separated by over 40 years. I do find reading diary entries that I tend to speed read through them and I don’t perhaps absorb as much information as I should. Therefore I don’t think Viola’s story had as much of an impact on me as it could have. I understand its necessity in bridging the gap with Bianca and helping her to see things in the present but it would have had more of an impact for me if there had been specific chapters from Viola’s viewpoint. I think I would have gotten to know and understand her more whereas I felt I only skimmed the surface with her. The diary does help Bianca understand unravel her own life and to that end it served its purpose but I didn’t form the strongest of connections with Viola.
I did feel that there was more of a specific storyline in the first book. There was a clear sense of purpose and goal for Lulu whereas here I found myself looking for this with Bianca. She didn’t seem as together as Lulu and the real mystery element that has previously been present wasn’t really there for me except for the very last page which left things on a major cliffhanger. In fact, it had me gasping in shock but I was also secretly thrilled because it has opened up endless questions and possibilities for future storylines. It certainly guaranteed that I will return to see what happens next but even without this plot twist, I do desperately want to read Mia and Nora’s stories. I feel they have been very much on the periphery so far almost like enigmas with just the briefest hints as to what may be troubling them or how their individual stories will develop.
I did enjoy The Tuscan Sister’s Secret but book one The Tuscan Sister slightly edges out in front for me at the moment. Bianca showed a lot of strength and self-sacrifice in protecting her family and it was good to see her finally taking her life back and reclaiming it finding her voice and her power as she did so. If you want family drama, secrets, romance and a time slip element in your next read than this will be the story for you.
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