The new Italian evening class at Mountainview School in Dublin is like hundreds of others starting up all over the city – but this one has its own special quality…the hopes and dreams of so many people are tied up in the twice-weekly lessons.
Dreamers like Aidan Dunne, waiting all his life for the promotion which never came, now looking for new self-respect. Signora, who followed the man she loved to a far country, and waited twenty-three years for him. Connie, the society hostess with a strangely empty calendar. Bill Burke, the young bank clerk in despair over his spendthrift girlfriend. Lou Sullivan – why would he learn Italian? His girlfriend Suzy is very suspicious. Kathy Clarke, looking for relief from stress, learns a secret which will change her world. And Laddy, the hotel porter, with a touching dream in his heart.
They come to the evening class, but they all learn far more than they ever bargained for, and by the time they are ready to set off on the promised trip to Italy at the end of the year, everyone’s destiny has changed utterly.
A fantastic read by Maeve Binchy.