My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith

Hardback:  Stefano stepped forward before the car drew away and tapped on Paul's window.  Paul wound it down.

"I don't like to give advice," said Stefano.  "Even if people expect me to do so because I am a priest."

Paul looked up at him, and smiled.  "Tell me," he said.

"Follow your heart," said Stefano.  "It's the best compass there is."

Food writer Paul Stuart is heading to the idyllic town of Montalcino in the Tuscan hills to escape a failed relationship and to finish an already late book.  But on arrival in Italy, things quickly take a turn for the worse when he discovers that his hire car is nowhere to be found and it looks like he will be stuck at the airport.  But help is at hand and he is offered an extraordinary alternative.

What happens thereafter is a mixture of adventure, romance and some very Italian goings-on.  As the story unfolds, we are immersed in the flavours of Italy:  its food and wine, its rich history and glorious landscape, and in la bella figura.  And then onto this beautiful canvas is introduced una macchina enorme.

Funny, elegant and moving - occasionally earth-moving - My Italian Bulldozer (2016) is a joy, a long love-letter to Italy.  A story of unexpected circumstance and lesson in making the best of what you have, the book is a warm holiday read guaranteed to put a smile on your face.  Best taken with a glass of Brunello di Montalcino (one of the country's finest wines) and, perhaps, cum grano salis (a pinch of salt).

About the author:  Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world's most prolific and most popular authors.  For many years, he was a professor of medical law, then, after the publication of his highly successful No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty-five million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty-six languages and become bestsellers throughout the world.

These include the 44 Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in the Scotsman, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, the von Igelfeld series and the Corduroy Mansions novels.  His novel, Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party, was winner of the 2015 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction.

Rating:  5/5