Editors Reads Verdict
A summer novel in the best sense — warm, sensuous, alive to atmosphere — but with darker undertones about absent fathers and the stories families keep from their children.
What We Loved
- Beautifully evoked Tuscany
- Interesting father-daughter dynamic
- The atmosphere of a very particular world
Minor Drawbacks
- Lighter than some Freud novels
- Some characters underdeveloped
Key Takeaways
- → Absent fathers and the mythology they create
- → Italy as a place of transformation
- → The difference between imagining someone and knowing them
| Author | Esther Freud |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Harper Perennial |
| Pages | 304 |
| Published | January 1, 2007 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Best For | Readers who enjoy literary fiction set in Italy, especially Tuscany |
Lara has grown up without her father. Now nineteen, she visits him in Tuscany for the first time — a filmmaker living in the hills outside Siena with his Italian partner and a rotating cast of artists, writers, and expatriates. Freud renders the world of the Tuscan summer — the heat, the wine, the particular languor of a creative community in Italy — with an insider’s intimacy.
But Love Falls is not simply a summer novel. The father Lara has imagined and the father she finds are not the same person, and the story she has constructed about why he was absent turns out to be incomplete. Freud is interested in the gaps in family knowledge — the things parents don’t tell their children, the explanations that never come — and she handles this with her characteristic light touch.
The Tuscan setting is rendered with the specificity of someone who knows the landscape from childhood; Freud has autobiographical connections to this world, and they show. Love Falls is not her most demanding novel, but it is one of her most pleasurable to read.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Love Falls" about?
Lara, nineteen, visits her father in Tuscany for the first time — a man she has never really known — and is drawn into his world of artists, expatriates, and complex histories in the Tuscan hills.
Who should read "Love Falls"?
Readers who enjoy literary fiction set in Italy, especially Tuscany
What are the key takeaways from "Love Falls"?
Absent fathers and the mythology they create Italy as a place of transformation The difference between imagining someone and knowing them
Is "Love Falls" worth reading?
A summer novel in the best sense — warm, sensuous, alive to atmosphere — but with darker undertones about absent fathers and the stories families keep from their children.
Ready to Read Love Falls?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: