I will write this review as I am reading this book, rather than write a summary at the end. My thanks to Goodreads giveaways for my copy.The book opens with a series of chapters written from the perspective of Clare and Ettore who clearly are two of the central characters in this novel which is set mainly in the South East corner of rural Italy in 1921. The opening descriptive scenes provide an insight into the lives of people from different social backgrounds in this poverty stricken part of It...

This book bored me to death. It was an excruciatingly slow read, with unlikeable characters and very slow developments. As much as Puglia's weatherbeaten landscape was brutal, so were the times, the lives of people living there. Even though I didn't know much about what happened in this area of the world during these times, because of the dry writing style I couldn't even develop a slight interest. I did struggle through it, more out of obligation than anything, as I did like previous books by K...

I just love Katherine Webb books and eagerly awaited this. I found this an extremely laborious book and was loathe to pick it up at times. The only reason I continued was that I thought it would improve; sadly I was wrong.I breathed a sigh of relief as I limped to the finishing line and turned the final page. Yes it's beautifully and descriptively written, as always, but I just felt that nothing really happened and that it didn't really get off the starting blocks for me.It's told from the persp...

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)Puglia, 1921. Leandro Cardetta, born into poverty, emigrated to America to make his fortune and has returned home to southern Italy a rich man, accompanied by his glamorous wife, Marcie, an ex-showgirl fighting middle age. Now Leandro has money enough to hire renowned English architect, Boyd Kinsgley, to renovate a crumbling palazzo into an Art Deco statement of wealth, and host Boyd's teenage son and his diff...

The Night Falling is the fifth novel from Katherine Webb and once again she has delivered another stunning, spell bounding, absorbing novel that had me lost in the lives of Ettore and Clare from the very first page. I love how each of Katherine’s novels are all so different from each other and with this new release she takes us back in time to 1921 to Gioia del Colle in Southern Italy. Right from the opening line we feel the sense of unease, tension and suspicion that permeates this novel. The a...

I found this book really laborious to read. It did improve towards the end with a slightly unexpected ending but it doesn't make me want to read any more of her books

Posted originally http://www.reviewedthebook.co.uk/2014... The Night Falling is a little different to the kind of books I normally read but I had no reservations – I’d heard wonderful things about Katherine Webb’s writing and I couldn’t wait to start reading it for myself. This book was truly incredible. In what should have taken me probably a good few chapters to get to grips with, considering I’ve not really read much about poverty or war before, Katherine Webb had me entranced within the firs...

To be honest, this book very nearly made the couldn't make myself finish it category. The odd choice to use present tense in a historical novel, first of all, was very strange, and there was something lacking in the way the story began. Perhaps it was urgency, perhaps magic. I came to this book expecting to be swept in straight away, and instead, I found myself pushing through the first eighty pages and fighting the urge to put the book down. Yet I persevered, and I was rewarded by this skilled

I was a little disappointed with this Katherine Webb book. Having really enjoyed her previous books this really wasn't up to the same standard. Beautifully written, great start and gripping finish but honestly the middle is just slow and quite boring.

It's 1921, a few years after the Great War. Clare Kingsley isn't happy when she and Pip have to join her husband, Boyd, in Italy. Clare is Boyd's second wife and Pip isn't officially her son, but their bond is very strong. Boyd is an architect and he is in Gioia in Puglia to design a building for Leandro Cardetta. Leandro is a rich and dangerous businessman who has made his fortune in America. Together with his wife Marcie he's returned to his homeland.Even though Leandro's home is luxurious Cla...

I received this book for free through Goodreads First ReadsThe Night Falling by Katherine Webb is a historical novel with a romantic theme. The story is told from the perspective of two people: Clare, a middle class wife from England, and Ettore, a poor Italian "peasant". Set in Puglia in the summer of 1921, the two characters meet when Clare and her step-son, Pip, are forced to accompany Boyd to Italy where he is going to be working for Leandro, Ettore's uncle. Clare and Ettore's relationship b...

This is a tale based on alternating chapters between the two lead characters – Clare and Ettore – and is set mainly in the South East corner of rural Italy in 1921. There is such an array of strong characters in this tale that you will be pleasantly surprised. They will do, and have to do, so much just to survive, with each individual convinced that their path is the right one. “This is not Britain, Mrs Kingsley; this is not even Italy. This is Puglia”.Three and a half stars from me. Full review...

Set in Italy in the 1920s, this story gives insight into the lives of peasants and the farm owners and overseers. It is a hard struggle and often brutal.Leandro was once a peasant, but now he is rich from earnings in America and returns to his homeland. I was never sure what his motives were, Leandro's full story is only revealed at the end of the story.Into this mix comes an architect and his family with their own secrets. I enjoyed the story and the ending was quite unexpected, and did fit in

wonderful read. much darker than her previous novels, this book explores what happens to two people when their marriage is based on lies and secrets. summer 1921, clare travels to Italy to spend the summer with her husband Boyd. over the course of a hot and violent summer their marriage comes apart as they learn some shocking truths about each other. my favourite book by this author so far.

It may be a good thing for an author to be able to write varied stories, but I'm wondering if Katherine Webb may have multiple personalities. This sucked. The last book I read by her swept the ground away from under my feet, this made me angry for the time wasted. Most of the book is just waiting and waiting and waiting, the reader and characters both doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING while just waiting for some forewarned but vague catastrophe. And when it finally arrives after all that waiting, it does...

I seem to have picked another book that I really struggled to finish. Similarly to other reviews none of the characters felt alive to me. I can’t recall if I’ve read another book by this writer previously but I’m unsure if I will want to again. Initially I felt this tale reminded me of The Lacuna (Kingsolver) but fails to have the energy of a robust tale, a beauty even amongst despair with the momentum that holds one’s attention of having immersed oneself in the era and environment of a well spu...

I only made it to the end of this book by skipping large chunks of it.Set in Puglia in southern Italy in 1921 it is a tale soaked in the poverty, inequality and brutality of those times and it did not make a good read for me. I found it all very depressing.The sad thing is that Katharine Webb is a good author, she writes well, her characters are authentic, the sense of place brilliant but what a shame to use this subject matter for a novel. If you like raw, gritty novels - you'll love this but n...