1 March 2019

Review: THREE GOLD COINS, Josephine Moon

  • this edition published 2018 by Allen & Unwin
  • ISBN 9-781925-266140
  • source: my local library
  • 381 pages
Synopsis (Allen & Unwin)

One coin for love, one for marriage, one to return to Rome.

Two days ago, Lara Foxleigh tossed three gold euros into the Trevi Fountain. Now, she is caring for a cranky old man and living in a picturesque villa, half a world away from her home and the concerns of her loving family.

Soon, it seems as if those wishes she made in Rome just might be coming true, and she may even be able to help heal a fifteen-year-old tragedy.

Until Lara's past threatens to destroy everything she loves...

Three Gold Coins is a masterfully written celebration of food, family, triumph over adversity, and love - a deliciously imperfect life.

My Take

What? you say. What is going on? Another one that is not crime fiction?

Well, (defensively), there are a few mysteries and puzzles to solve, but this is a lovely story - the library categorises it as "romantic fiction". And there are elements of domestic violence, family ties,  and dealing with psychiatric problems.

Five years after she has given birth to his children Lara Foxleigh goes travelling to Italy to get away from the man who has controlled her life for a number of years. She meets an elderly man Samuel when he throws his wedding ring into the Trevi Fountain and takes him home because his carer has disappeared.

After Samuel breaks his wrist Lara agrees to stay on in his house as his carer and her life becomes very different from the one she has known.

I got a little confused in the beginning as I thought Lara and Dave lived in London, but then I discovered that Lara had come from New South Wales, which made a lot more sense.

Good reading. Sure to appeal to those who enjoy learning about other cultures.

My rating: 4.2

About the author
Josephine Moon's first novel, The Tea Chest (2014), delighted readers with its strong heroine and enchanting story and was a bestseller both in Australia and overseas. Her second novel, The Chocolate Promise (2015), was a love-story with a difference set in luscious Provence and rural Tasmania and was also a bestseller. The Beekeeper's Secret (2016), a story of family and the happiness, guilt and grief that can lie within them, was her third novel.

Three Gold Coins, a captivating novel of families, food, adversity, hope and love, is her fourth novel.

Josephine lives with her husband, son and her horses, dogs, chickens, goats and cats on acreage in Queensland.

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