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    The Invitation
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    The Invitation
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    The Invitation
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Invitation

    Written by Lucy Foley

    Narrated by Emma Gregory

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    ‘The perfect summer read… Gorgeously compelling’ Good Housekeeping

    ‘Film crew, Italian Riviera, 1950s. What part of that does not appeal?’ Red

    Rome, 1950s. One fateful night, Hal Jacobs meets Stella, a beautiful society darling from New York. To Hal, flailing in the post-war darkness, she’s a point of light. They’re from different worlds, but both trying and failing to carve out a new life.

    Stella vanishes all too quickly, until a curious invitation from an Italian Contessa reels her back into Hal’s world. They join the Contessa’s collection of luminaries on a yacht headed for Cannes film festival.

    The scene on board is a fiction – scars from the war can be hidden yet not healed. Everyone is hiding a dark history, but Stella’s secrets run the deepest. Compelled by her fragile beauty, Hal is determined to bring back the girl she once was, the girl who’s been confined to history.

    The Invitation is an epic love story that will transport you from the glamour of the Italian Riviera, to the darkness of war-torn Spain, and to a golden – if rather haunted – time. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 14, 2016
    ISBN9780008163006
    Unavailable
    The Invitation
    Author

    Lucy Foley

    Lucy Foley studied English literature at Durham University and University College London and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry. She is the author of five novels including The Paris Apartment and The Guest List. She lives in London.

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    Reviews for The Invitation

    4/5

    78 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      What a beautiful, immersive experience. Transporting us to the mediterranean amongst these characters. Love a Lucy Foley book.
    • 5/5
      ...It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy...
    • 5/5
      For my blog followers, I should first of all tell you, that this is not crime fiction, my usual fare. This book tells its story through a number of time frames, which makes it a challenging read. In addition there are two main plot lines: the current story, and that of an old hand written journal. The author uses different type face too, presumably to help the reader decide which story you are reading.Hal's initial invitation to a party being held by the Contessa comes from a friend who cannot go. The Contessa is throwing a party for her rich friends, trying to attract investment for a film based on part of her family history. Hal is a journalist who has been living in Rome since the end of the war. He manages by writing small pieces for a magazine but is in desperate need of work. At the party the Contessa takes a liking to him and promises to be in touch later. At the party he also meets Stella, who comes back to his flat with him - a one-night stand. Fifteen months later the Contessa contacts him. The Film is made, she has funding, it is being released at Cannes, and she needs a captive journalist. And so the Hal-Stella story begins.The blurb says this is an "epic love story". It is also about infatuation, possession, and the impact of events in Europe, in particular Spain since the mid 1930s, on the lives of families and individuals.
    • 4/5
      This was so different from what I’ve read from this author in the past, I had to check that I was thinking of the right author. Then I realized that this was one of her older, first books. With that information, I found I did enjoy this book even though it’s not really my typical genre.
      I like stories that are based in the past, but usually there’s a murder involved. No murder in this story, but there is a nice, low-key love story. Since I don’t read many (none) love stories, it was good that it was a quiet, romantic one.
      The book goes back in time for Stella, who was born in Spain right before war hit her village. Then it goes to the book’s present day in the 50’s. After her father is killed in the war, she’s left to care for her little brother at 16 years old. Without giving away too much, she eventually finds herself alone.
      But before her meet Stella, we meet Hal, a journalist without a huge future planned. Hal attends a high society party using someone else’s invitation, and this is where he meets Stella. The night is nothing like he expects and so begins the love story.
      Although the ending is not exactly a surprise, there is a sweetness about how everything falls into place.
    • 3/5
      While this book reads fairly quickly, I had a difficult time getting into it. How Jacobs is given an invitation to a party where he meets Stella. They then happen to meet again several years later on a trip where Hal, a writer/journalist, is invited to write about several people that are acting in a movie. Both Hal and Stella have stories about the war which has affected their personalities, yet draws them together.
    • 1/5
      I would love to go to Italy. I thought this book might take me there, but it only put me to sleep. The story was soooooo slooooooow. I can't even tell you what it was about. I'd read a sentence several times - my mind was wandering. It didn't keep my interest at all. DNF @ 34%.
    • 4/5
      This story is set in Italy several years after WWII. Hal is an expat who is living overseas, struggling to even begin writing a novel and haunted by an incident in the war. He meets Stella and has one night of romance with her. Later, he meets Stella again and discovers she is married. What follows is the story of a repressed love affair full of secrets and also of sad circumstances of the past.I love the writing, the story seemed a bit aloof at times, but was definitely a page turner. It was set in a beautiful location and the intrigue was addicting. I received a complementary e-book from the publisher.
    • 4/5
      Three story lines are interwoven in The Invitation, by Lucy Foley.On the Italian Riviera in the 1950s, Hal Jacobs is an English journalist, struggling with scars from war and a broken engagement back home.Quite by chance, he receives an invitation from a wealthy Contessa he had met previously, to join the famous, talented people she had selected to cruise from Italy to Cannes,publicizing her film, THE SEA CAPTAIN.Why would a drifter, just barely making a living, be invited aboard?Our second plot is the " backstory" of Stella, a beautiful New York matron who had a brief encounter with Hal, two years prior.Her childhood setting is the late 1930s Spain.Stella is currently aboard the Contessa's cruise.At first, the narrative's tapestry seems improbable.But the aura of mystery deepens with Hal's discovery of a 16th century sea captain's journal, detailing his obsession with a "ghostly" woman he rescues from the sea.Once I became comfortable with the plot transitioning and began making connections, I enjoyed the read.I saw it captioned somewhere as a "tragedy laced romance".(Sorry, I don't recall where.)But, that says it best for me.3.5 ★I received this uncorrected advance copy from Goodreads.
    • 3/5
      This is Lucy Foley's second book, following on from The Book of Lost and Found, which I loved. Hal Jacobs is a small-time journalist who is offered a unique job by an Italian Contessa: to accompany her and her guests on a yacht headed to Cannes to promote a film that she has been involved with. Stella is a woman on board who Hal has come across before and who he finds quite beguiling and before long he becomes involved with her.I'm not sure why but this book just didn't completely engage me and I didn't feel a huge amount for the characters, despite some quite sad stories in their past. The setting is beautiful and the whole book has a very glamorous feel to it - 1950s, Italy, film stars, Cannes etc. The writing is elegant and understated and I think The Invitation will be a success for Lucy Foley. However, I did find myself quite pleased to come to the end of it, I'm afraid.