Olivia

by Judith Rossner

Book Overview

"A STRONG, CAPTIVATING NOVEL." --San Francisco Chronicle For Caroline the kitchen has always been her home, and Italian food her specialty. In fact, the minute she sets foot in Italy--and meets the appreciative Angelo, who loves her cooking like nobody's business--Caroline decides to stay. But even the magic spices of Italy can't make her marriage taste right. Angelo takes over the raising of their beautiful daughter Olivia, who, by the age of ten,...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804112460
• ISBN13: 9780804112468
• Release Date: June 1995
• Publisher: Ivy Books
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

ROSSNER COOKS UP ANOTHER TELLING PLOT

Judith Rossner surely caught our eyes with "Looking For Mr. Goodbar," an on target encapsulation of the singles scene. With this title she hones in on troubled family relationships as she relates the story of a celebrated cook and her estranged daughter. Caroline, the narrator, has grown up in New York City, neglected by career driven parents. Seeking affection Caroline stakes claims on the family cooks. When the last of them, Anna, returns to a family restaurant in Italy, Caroline scrambles after her. After marrying the father of her child, the insensitive womanizing Angelo, Caroline takes over the running of the restaurant's kitchen, and is soon repeating her mother's mistakes. When Olivia, her daughter is 12, Caroline returns to New York City without her. The gist of Rossner's story begins when a sutbborn and antagonistic Olivia follows her mother to America. Mix the mother daughter relationship with the doctor who lives in the apartment above Caroline, and Caroline's mother who is now a wonderful grandmother, then stir in all of these women seeking their place in the world. Rossner's description of food, and culinary how-to are as satisfying as the novel's ending. - Gail Cooke

This is a great book!

If you liked Marilyn French's Her Mother's Daughter you'll love this book. Judith Rossner does a wonderful job developing her characters. You'll feel like you really know all of them when you're done reading the book. I really can't recommend this book highly enough!

A good recepie -Food, Italy, Single Mum and New York

I read this on a recent holiday - ideal for reading on the beach and dreaming of a woman who could cook you gourmet italian meals every day of your life! Do such people really exist or is this why the genre is fiction. I learnt a lot about food and New York style neurosis. Got a bit slow towards the end but overall a good light read