Publishers Weekly
06/20/2016
Hal Jacobs has been drifting through life since returning home from World War II. In 1953, he is eking out a living as a journalist in Italy when he is invited to join an Italian contessa on a sea voyage from Italy to Cannes to publicize her film, The Sea Captain. His job will be to write about the journey, and the pay is such that he can’t refuse. The yacht’s passengers are the glamorous stars of the film as well as the moneyed financiers that the contessa has assembled. When Hal sees the wife of one of the wealthy men aboard, he realizes that it’s Stella Truss, with whom he had spent a night in Rome two years earlier and who has been impossible to forget. At first Hal and Stella try to ignore each other, but they are thrown together over and over: at dinner, on the dance floor, and on the moonlit deck. Before long their love affair is in full swing, fueled not only by their passion but also by their shared histories of losses and guilt. In her second novel, Foley (The Book of Lost and Found) weaves a very satisfying love story, and readers will be especially taken by the luxurious Mediterranean setting. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, WME Entertainment. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"Can I find words eloquent enough to describe this novel? Lucy Foley's THE INVITATION is so exquisite in its writing that it may take a place among the classics — but it was the combination of the glittering, glamorous setting and the magnetic characters that mesmerized me. This book is luminous.—Elin Hilderbrand, bestselling author of Here's To Us
"Pop this tale of love, secrets and obsession right into your beach bag."—People
"Certain that they'll never meet again, journalist Hal and socialite Stella indulge in an illicit rendezvous. But when they're reunited on a yacht in Cannes a year later, temptation is everywhere."—Cosmopolitan
"Lucy Foley crafts a subtle, dramatic story of guilt, desire and long-held secrets.... Lushly described settings and Foley's keen but compassionate eye for her characters combines to make The Invitation a beautiful, bittersweet journey of loss and redemption."—Shelf Awareness
"THE INVITATION is a riveting, dazzling romance, set in the most beautiful places on earth. I wanted to go wherever Lucy Foley took me."—Anton DiSclafani, New York Times bestselling author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls and The After Party
"Richly atmospheric and emotionally resonant, The Invitation is a compelling love story that takes us far beyond the alluring Italian coast and the film festival at Cannes to a darker place, where the wounds of war are still fresh, and secrets hide just below the water's surface. Lucy Foley's lavish depictions both immerse and transport, inviting us to cruise along with this glamorous and enigmatic cast of unforgettable characters. A great read."—Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader
"I loved THE INVITATION. Foley has such a visceral writing style, and her rich descriptions made me feel as if I could dive into this book and be amongst the glittering characters in the Italian sun. A beautifully complex and vivid story, full of repressed longing and secrets. An absolutely enchanting tale."—Lucinda Riley, New York Times bestselling author of The Orchid House
"Glamorous and romantic and bittersweet all at once, this is a fabulous story with such wonderful, intelligent prose."—Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of A Hundred Summers
"I love The Invitation. The setting is so powerfully evoked that I found myself browsing holidays on the Italian Riviera for days. But while it definitely ticks all the boxes for those after a glamorous, mid-century romance, it's actually much more than that, with dark, sensuous undercurrents that lingered on in my mind, long after I'd reluctantly left Stella and Hal behind."
—Kate Riordan, author of The Shadow Hour
"A seductive love tale set on the Italian Riviera in the 1950s"—Sunday Times Style (UK)
"The perfect summer read... Gorgeously compelling"—Good Housekeeping (UK)
"Oozes glamour... Lush, romantic and cleverly crafted - a brainy beach read to relish"—Sunday Mirror (UK)
"In her second novel, Foley weaves a very satisfying love story, and readers will be especially taken by the luxurious Mediterranean setting."
—Publishers Weekly
Kirkus Reviews
2016-04-13
A tragedy-laced romance set among the glitterati on the Italian Riviera in the 1950s. Hal Jacobs is an English journalist who has been scraping by in Rome after a soul-killing war experience and a broken engagement back home. A friend passes along his personal invitation to attend a fancy soiree given by a contessa looking to raise money for a film. When security at the party busts Hal's cover, the hostess herself steps in. "Someone once told me," she says, "that a party is only an event if there is at least one interesting gatecrasher in attendance." Hal winds up having a rejuvenating one-night stand with a mystery woman named Stella, but she slips away without telling him her last name. Two years later, the contessa digs him up from obscurity; she offers him a princely sum to cover the premiere of The Sea Captain for a major Italian magazine. He will need to accompany the cast and other key players on a publicity cruise down the Ligurian coast to the opening at Cannes. On the yacht, he will at last find his Stella—now on the arm of her nasty American husband, the film's major backer. Foley (The Book of Lost and Found, 2015) layers the ensuing drama with Stella's tragic back story as well as the narrative on which the film is based, a tale found in the 16th-century journal of one of the contessa's ancestors. He rescued a beautiful, mysterious, and badly bruised woman from the sea only to become obsessed with her. All this, plus a changing point of view, makes for a choppy ride. Obsession, obsession everywhere, and a flute of spumante to drink. As in a movie from this period, melodrama and clichés are par for the course.
