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Ciao Bella: In Search of My Italian Father
A travel book on Italy with a heart-warming difference!
There was one subject that was never mentioned when Helena Frith Powell was growing up - her eccentric Italian father. But one day a letter arrived saying that he wanted to meet her. She travelled to Italy with her mother and was mesmerised by him, as well as stunned by his advice on sex and relationships. He introduced her to Rome, Venice and Naples, and they stayed in touch irregularly until she lost contact with him when he stormed out of her wedding, leaving her mother to walk her up the aisle. Several years later, the mother of three children and the author of two successful books, Helena travels to Italy to write about the glamour of Italian women. But walking up the steps of her father's old Florentine apartment powerful memories come flooding back, and she realises that there's another story she needs to tell. She desperately wants to understand the peculiarly strong emotional bonds that tie them together despite his unreliable nature. In this moving and entertaining journey to the places she visited with her father, Helena combines descriptions of Italy, its food, fashion, culture and people with a search for the most mysterious man she's ever met.
There was one subject that was never mentioned when Helena Frith Powell was growing up - her eccentric Italian father. But one day a letter arrived saying that he wanted to meet her. She travelled to Italy with her mother and was mesmerised by him, as well as stunned by his advice on sex and relationships. He introduced her to Rome, Venice and Naples, and they stayed in touch irregularly until she lost contact with him when he stormed out of her wedding, leaving her mother to walk her up the aisle. Several years later, the mother of three children and the author of two successful books, Helena travels to Italy to write about the glamour of Italian women. But walking up the steps of her father's old Florentine apartment powerful memories come flooding back, and she realises that there's another story she needs to tell. She desperately wants to understand the peculiarly strong emotional bonds that tie them together despite his unreliable nature. In this moving and entertaining journey to the places she visited with her father, Helena combines descriptions of Italy, its food, fashion, culture and people with a search for the most mysterious man she's ever met.
- GenresNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2007
5 people want to read
About the author
Helena Frith Powell
25 books32 followersHelena Frith Powell used to write the French Mistress column in The Sunday Times about living in France. She has also been a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.
Helena is the author of More France Please, we’re British, a book published in November 2004 by Gibson Square Books about her experiences in France. She is also the author of a book about French women called Two Lipsticks and a Lover published in October 2005 by Gibson Square Books. The paperback was published by Penguin in the US in December 2006 under the title All You Need to be Impossibly French. The paperback in the UK was published by Arrow in February 2007. It was also published in Russia, Thailand and China during 2007. It was published in France in March 2008 under the title So Chic! Two Lipsticks was also translated into Russian, Chinese and Thai.
She is also the author of a memoir called Ciao Bella, published by Gibson Square in October 2006 and re-released in 2012. Her book about ageing called To Hell in High Heels was published by Arrow in April 2008, which has been translated into several languages.
Her diet book, The Viva Mayr Diet, was published by Harper Collins in May 2009. Her latest book is a novel set in France about the French art of having affairs called Love in a Warm Climate, which was published in March 2011 by Gibson Square.
Helena was educated at Durham University and lived in the Languedoc region of France for eight years. She now lives in Abu Dhabi with her husband Rupert and their three children Olivia, Bea and Leonardo. She is editorial director of a high-end fashion glossy called Masquerade magazine. Her latest novel, which is about first love and set in London, will be out in the spring of 2013.
Helena is the author of More France Please, we’re British, a book published in November 2004 by Gibson Square Books about her experiences in France. She is also the author of a book about French women called Two Lipsticks and a Lover published in October 2005 by Gibson Square Books. The paperback was published by Penguin in the US in December 2006 under the title All You Need to be Impossibly French. The paperback in the UK was published by Arrow in February 2007. It was also published in Russia, Thailand and China during 2007. It was published in France in March 2008 under the title So Chic! Two Lipsticks was also translated into Russian, Chinese and Thai.
She is also the author of a memoir called Ciao Bella, published by Gibson Square in October 2006 and re-released in 2012. Her book about ageing called To Hell in High Heels was published by Arrow in April 2008, which has been translated into several languages.
Her diet book, The Viva Mayr Diet, was published by Harper Collins in May 2009. Her latest book is a novel set in France about the French art of having affairs called Love in a Warm Climate, which was published in March 2011 by Gibson Square.
Helena was educated at Durham University and lived in the Languedoc region of France for eight years. She now lives in Abu Dhabi with her husband Rupert and their three children Olivia, Bea and Leonardo. She is editorial director of a high-end fashion glossy called Masquerade magazine. Her latest novel, which is about first love and set in London, will be out in the spring of 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 28, 2019
Helena Frith Powell didn't know her father until she was fourteen. She decided to spend some time in Italy to get acquainted with her father, and by understanding him understanding herself. She's funny and this is an easy read. But I am uneasy with generalizations, about Italian women, about French women (I must have felt offended because I certainly don't think laughing is vulgar and I don't care about my appearance and know a lot of French women who don't either :)) and I always find them a bit cliché (but one may argue that it's because there's a little truth to them).
May 17, 2012
This was a really nice, if sad, book. The author has had an eventful life, and I am glad things seemed to work out well in the end. For anyone who is interested in family dynamics in Italy, this is a good book to read.
July 30, 2007
read this about 3 times at gibson square.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews