Judith’s review of The Passionate Italian by Diana Fraser

Passion wasn’t high on Rose’s agenda growing up in poverty: survival was, independence was, but not the crazy, elemental passion that she’d found with Giovanni Visconti. But, after a year together, the passion had twisted into jealousy and control and Rose had disappeared—seemingly unable to deal with her husband’s passionate nature.

But, two years later, Giovanni tracks Rose down. He’s discovered something that makes him realize that there was more to Rose’s departure than he’d first thought, and he’s determined to control his jealous passions in order to prove to his wife that she can trust him. But Rose is keeping secrets from him—secrets with the potential to destroy more than just their relationship.

I first encountered culture shock when a kid and our family was moving to distant areas in the United States and my sister and I had to literally begin again with friendships and feeling comfortable with a place being “home.” I found out that it is even more of a severe change when moving from the United States to another country when first married to a serviceman who was stationed in Germany. Lots of folks may have spoken English and even loved everything American, but that didn’t change the fact that people raised in Germany simply experienced life differently, valued many of the same things but still there was significant differences on many levels.

Those cultural differences are very much at the heart of this novel about an English woman who has never really known love in her young life and who is completely taken over by the passionate advances of a wealthy Italian business magnate. Head of his international business as well as an ancient Italian family, Giovanni fell madly in love with the beautiful Rose and swept her into a marriage which, while it was exciting and lusty, began to take over her life with her husband’s over-protective and jealous ways and what seemed to her to be a serious lack of trust. After nearly being raped by her brother-in-law and losing their baby–events that Giovanni knew nothing about because he had been gone for six months–Rose left Italy for parts unknown. She certainly had no idea that she was taking a significant part of Giovanni’s heart with her.

Some reviewers have had a very negative response to Giovanni. Now on the surface it appears that he is an overbearing jerk and perhaps that may be still true to some degree. But I think readers have to put on a different set of glasses with which to view this man who has been shaped by a culture far different than ours, born into an ancient family with all its traditions and expectations, and a man for whom power was a way of life from the first moment of his life. It is significant that Rose never doubted Giovanni’s love for her, but she just couldn’t live with his jealousy. This story is significant for understanding the power of love to convince a man like Giovanni that he must adopt a far different view of marriage and relationship–his willingness to change in order to woo his wife back to his side says a great deal about the quality of human being he was.

This story is also about the destruction that can be caused when partners refuse to give up their fears of the future because of the conditioning of the past. No one will deny that Rose had legitimate reasons for developing the survivor skills she possessed in order to rise above the emotional black hole in which she lived her early years. What is so sad for many was true for Rose: she couldn’t seem to move beyond the need to be independent, the need to withhold her trust, her unwillingness to allow Giovanni’s love to keep her safe. No wonder he came to the conclusion that she just didn’t love him enough.

This is a very insightful novel that gives readers an opportunity to look at relationship through the eyes of another culture. It has times of great joy and peace, but throughout there is that strand of tension that there is a sinister something that can and will disrupt any hope these two people have for a future together. It is this dark presence that keeps on rearing its head and which keeps on upending Giovanni’s efforts to regain a relationship with the woman he loves. But it is also Rose’s insistence at keeping her secrets, Alberto’s attempted rape and the loss of their baby, and refusing to trust Giovanni and his love for her. It is a clear lesson that we as human beings often make serious mistakes when we attempt to make decisions for others.

I found this a very good book–entertaining and stimulating and ultimately a very satisfying reading experience. It is not a really long book, but it is long enough to allow for good story and plot development and to develop characters that are realistic and basically very human.

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Diana Fraser Publishing. You can buy it here in e-format.