The town of Lazzarini Boscarino in the Tuscany region of Italy is having a hard time.
The younger generation has moved away for jobs; deceased Mayor Benigno stole all the village money, leaving Lazzarini Boscarino bankrupt; the ristorante and the pasticceria have shuttered their doors; tourists bypass Lazzarini Boscarino to visit the nearby town of Borghese; and beloved Nonna Amara's house, garden, cucina, and pizza oven were leveled by a huge landslide.
The hub of Lazzarini Boscarino is now the Bar Celebrità, where the locals (and their dogs) gather. Visitors eat, drink, gossip, argue, and sip bartender Giuseppina's toxic coffee. Giuseppina claims her bitter brew is the fuel of the village; the elixir of life; the reason everyone in town lives into their late nineties.
In fact, bartender Giuseppina is a force of nature, a 53-year-old blonde bombshell who wants to see Lazzarini Boscarino thrive. To that end, when tourist buses pass by, Giuseppina rushes out of the Bar Celebrità to flash her bountiful breasts at the wide-eyed sightseers, her answer to holding up a 'save us' sign.
Giuseppina's bosom hasn't worked yet, but something else might. This comic novel, bursting with lyrical descriptions, tells the story of a discovery that could rescue Lazzarini Boscarino from poverty.
Truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza is foraging in the forest with his faithful Lagotto Romagnolo dogs, Aria and Fagiola, when Aria indicates a spot.
Giovanni digs and digs, and unearths a HUGE white truffle that has the color of a potato and the appearance of a mummified brain. Every white truffle is expensive, the record paid for the most coveted of them all was by a Hong Kong businessman who shelled out $330,000 for a monster that tipped the scales at just over three pounds.
Giovanni's treasure, which ignites the senses of aficionados - and to others smells as if a rugby team had spent lockdown in their locker room, kneading aged Roquefort with their feet and then straining it through soiled jocktraps - weighs six pounds, fourteen ounces!
The newly elected mayor of Lazzarini Boscarino, Delizia Micucci - who barely won the election over Maurizio the donkey - hopes Giovanni's truffle will be the town's salvation.
Delizia plans to auction off the gargantuan truffle, and preparations for the event come to involve the patrons of Bar Celebrità; social media; a pregnant cat called Al Pacino; a gate-crashing goat; a rival truffle hunter; an odious thief; an adventurous bee; a cluster of reporters; Sotheby's Auction House; a Michelin-star chef from Borghese; and more.
Things don't go smoothly, and there's a good deal of action and adventure.
At the heart of the story though, are the people of Lazzarini Boscarino, who are dealing with old grudges; lingering grief; financial wrongs; fractious relationships; continuing worries; and other troubles. As things play out, the people's affection for each other - and their love for Lazzarini Boscarino - brings them together.
To provide a feel for the author's lyrical writing, I'll include a short excerpt from the novel. This is a description of the wind and a hidden treasure:
"[The breeze is] hurtling toward chestnut trees spaced like the pews of a great duomo. The wind now weaves between golden leaves. Whispering quick consonants between the branches, borrowing an autumnal aura. Sweet sighs of ripe chestnuts and shed leaves. And here - where the wind steals woodland scents - hides a curiosity. Cloistered by soil, moss, stone, and leaf litter, a thing unseen - a thing quite mysterious - lies in waiting."
The entire narrative contains passages like this, which are beautiful, but (for me) this scenic writing was a little overdone.
The novel has a large cast of memorable characters, whom the author helpfully describes at the beginning of the book. For instance:
✿ Vittoria: Eleven-year-old aspiring cook. Nonna Amara's beloved granddaughter.
✿ Carlotta DeLuca: Village nonagenarian with a spicy history and love for a good caper.
✿ Duccio Berardinelli: Disgraced village postman who has a silver ponytail and a perennial scowl.
✿ Mamma Fortuna: A fortune teller from Pietrasanta who puts the Chanel in psychic channeling.
✿ Ugo Lombardi: A larger-than-life village hunter who's full of braggadocio and boar-hunting stories, rifle always at the ready.
And there are many more characters.
I found the book fun and entertaining, and recommend it to readers who like humorous, heartening books.
For folks who want to know more about truffle hunting, I'd recommend Truffle Hound: On the Trail of the World’s Most Seductive Fungus, with Dreamers, Schemers, and Some Extraordinary Dogs by Rowan Jacobsen
Thanks to Netgalley, Kira Jane Buxeon, and Grand Central Publishing for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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