The Italian landscape beckons authors to set their romance novels against the rolling hills and quaint Medieval villages that have readers longing to jump on the next plane to Florence. Even author John Grisham has been inspired to set several of his novels in Italy – the recent release The Broker
takes place in Bologna. His forthcoming novel Playing for Pizza, to be released in September also takes place in bella Italia.
The story of an American quarterback in Italy, it is a bit different from Grisham’s usual courtroom thrillers. In fact, Doubleday publisher Stephen Rubin describes the book to the Associated Press as, “a romp about a fish out of water that had me laughing out loud.
When asked about his inspiration to write the book Grisham commented, “I was pleasantly surprised to find real American football in Italy…and as I dug deeper, a novel came together. The research was tough — food, wine, opera, football, Italian culture — but someone had to do it.” (Associated Press While it may not be the next A Room With a View, it certainly should be entertaining. –Laura Cimperman