The Reluctant Tuscan - Hardcover

Praise for The Reluctant Tuscan: "Doran's brutally funny accounts . . . are enough to keep readers hooked until the last page."--Publishers Weekly" . . . disarmingly funny."--The Arizona Republic"A truly funny book that reveals Italy as never before."--The Grand Rapids Press

My rustic idyll had so far robbed me of my savings, alienated the neighbours and infuriated the local government. On the other hand, I had just eaten a delicious frittata and was driving through the most beautiful countryside in Chianti...
Rising From The Mist in the sun-blushed hills of Tuscany is Il Piccolo Rustico, a 300-year-old stone farmhouse that Nancy Doran dreams of lovingly restoring into an idlyllic home. All her husband Phil can see is a crumbling money pit that, as far as dreams go, is more of a nightmare.
Reluctantly leaving behind high -octane, air-conditioned Los Angeles where he lives and works as a writer-producer, Phil is uprooted to a strange country intoxicated by O sole mio, virgin olive oil and oak-aged Chianti. The local village reveals itself to be a hive of seething passions, secrets and age-old blood feuds, and the newcomers find that life is not all strolls around town during the passagiato and relaxing under the awnings of picturesque cafes.
Beset by a rift of exasperating challenges - from the cunning tricks of the Pinatore family to an infuriating Byzantine Italian bureaucracy - it is only with an inspired touch of the 'Inner Italian' that Phil and Nancy finally manage to soften the hearts of their neighbours and are embraced by the community.