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Silvia
At the heart of Maya Caruso's sharp, tender, insightful and wickedly ironic novel is Silvia a 42-year-old Italo-Australian workaholic who's nailed career success but flunked personal fulfilment. Romance? She ghosted it sometime after her divorce.
Enter her mother, Silvia a widowed Italian matriarch with opinions laced with old-school patriarchy and a Rolodex of gossip-hungry nonnas. She's made it her full-time job to remind Junior that she's alone, unmarried and probably infertile. Their relationship is equal parts love, loathing and mutual dependency - a tangle of guilt, meatballs and inherited trauma.
When an old friend resurfaces, Junior's carefully collapsed world starts to expand. There's flirting, there's dancing, there's actual joy. Shockingly, Senior gets swept up in the action too, dipping a cautious toe into the world of dating.
But as both women step out of their comfort zones, life pushes back. Chaos ensues, feelings get messy, and not even a solid plate of lasagne can fix everything. Silvia is a funny, heartbreaking look at what happens when women - especially ones raised to hold it all together - turn their backs on expectations and go in search of themselves.
Enter her mother, Silvia a widowed Italian matriarch with opinions laced with old-school patriarchy and a Rolodex of gossip-hungry nonnas. She's made it her full-time job to remind Junior that she's alone, unmarried and probably infertile. Their relationship is equal parts love, loathing and mutual dependency - a tangle of guilt, meatballs and inherited trauma.
When an old friend resurfaces, Junior's carefully collapsed world starts to expand. There's flirting, there's dancing, there's actual joy. Shockingly, Senior gets swept up in the action too, dipping a cautious toe into the world of dating.
But as both women step out of their comfort zones, life pushes back. Chaos ensues, feelings get messy, and not even a solid plate of lasagne can fix everything. Silvia is a funny, heartbreaking look at what happens when women - especially ones raised to hold it all together - turn their backs on expectations and go in search of themselves.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 20, 2026
‘There was nothing Italians loved more than the dead.’ ‘They loved talking about death. Who had recently died. Who was going to die. Who looked like they were dying.’
Silvia by Maya Caruso is the kind of book that feels like sitting at a dinner table where everyone is talking over each other, emotions are high, and somehow you’re laughing while quietly having an existential crisis.
Silvia is messy, in the way that feels deeply human rather than chaotic for the sake of it. She’s navigating love, identity, family expectations, and her own tendency to self sabotage, all while orbiting around food, culture, and the weight of who she’s “supposed” to be.
The writing has this warm, conversational feeling to it, but don’t be fooled, it sneaks in some pretty sharp observations about relationships and the stories we tell ourselves. One minute you’re smiling at a perfectly timed line, the next you’re sitting there like… oh. That hit close.
It’s indulgent in the best way, like comfort food with a slightly bitter aftertaste. You get the romance, the humour, the family drama, but also that quiet undercurrent of “am I actually living the life I want?”
Reading this felt like spending time with my grandmother, she was Italian too, all warmth and food and feeling and there were moments in these pages that brought her back to me in the sweetest, most unexpected way.
If you like your stories a little chaotic, a little heartfelt, and very self aware, this one absolutely delivers.
I Highly Recommend.
Thank you Echo Publishing for my advanced readers copy.
Available Now!
Silvia by Maya Caruso is the kind of book that feels like sitting at a dinner table where everyone is talking over each other, emotions are high, and somehow you’re laughing while quietly having an existential crisis.
Silvia is messy, in the way that feels deeply human rather than chaotic for the sake of it. She’s navigating love, identity, family expectations, and her own tendency to self sabotage, all while orbiting around food, culture, and the weight of who she’s “supposed” to be.
The writing has this warm, conversational feeling to it, but don’t be fooled, it sneaks in some pretty sharp observations about relationships and the stories we tell ourselves. One minute you’re smiling at a perfectly timed line, the next you’re sitting there like… oh. That hit close.
It’s indulgent in the best way, like comfort food with a slightly bitter aftertaste. You get the romance, the humour, the family drama, but also that quiet undercurrent of “am I actually living the life I want?”
Reading this felt like spending time with my grandmother, she was Italian too, all warmth and food and feeling and there were moments in these pages that brought her back to me in the sweetest, most unexpected way.
If you like your stories a little chaotic, a little heartfelt, and very self aware, this one absolutely delivers.
I Highly Recommend.
Thank you Echo Publishing for my advanced readers copy.
Available Now!
May 13, 2026
Thank you so much to @echo_publishing for putting this book in my world, because Silvia by Maya Caruso is the book I didn’t know I needed.
This funny, heartfelt story follows a 40-year-old Italian-Australian divorcee trying to navigate life while also carrying the weight of her traditional 80-year-old mother’s expectations. According to her mother, Silvia should be focusing less on her career and more on finding a man — and the family commentary doesn’t stop there.
The dialogue in this book was absolutely brilliant. Every conversation felt alive, chaotic and painfully real in the best possible way. The aunties are completely unfiltered, endlessly nosy, and always ready with an opinion nobody asked for. The portrayal of the traditional Italian men had me laughing out loud more than once.
But underneath all the humour is something deeply relatable — the struggle of balancing modern life with old-school family expectations, especially when your family is deeply rooted in tradition. Maya Caruso captured that push and pull so well through rich character development and authentic family dynamics.
If you grew up in a loud, opinionated family, this will hit close to home. And even if you didn’t, it’s still such a light, funny and quick read filled with warmth, heart and laugh-out-loud moments.
This funny, heartfelt story follows a 40-year-old Italian-Australian divorcee trying to navigate life while also carrying the weight of her traditional 80-year-old mother’s expectations. According to her mother, Silvia should be focusing less on her career and more on finding a man — and the family commentary doesn’t stop there.
The dialogue in this book was absolutely brilliant. Every conversation felt alive, chaotic and painfully real in the best possible way. The aunties are completely unfiltered, endlessly nosy, and always ready with an opinion nobody asked for. The portrayal of the traditional Italian men had me laughing out loud more than once.
But underneath all the humour is something deeply relatable — the struggle of balancing modern life with old-school family expectations, especially when your family is deeply rooted in tradition. Maya Caruso captured that push and pull so well through rich character development and authentic family dynamics.
If you grew up in a loud, opinionated family, this will hit close to home. And even if you didn’t, it’s still such a light, funny and quick read filled with warmth, heart and laugh-out-loud moments.
May 8, 2026
Thank you to Echo Publishing and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC of this wonderful book in exchange for my honest review.
I had such a lovely time with Silvia by Maya Caruso. From the very beginning, this felt like one of those books that quietly sneaks up on you. It is witty, warm, and full of those very real family dynamics that can make you laugh one minute and feel emotionally exhausted the next. Beneath it all, there is a genuinely heartfelt story about identity, expectations, and learning that happiness does not always look the way other people think it should.
We follow Silvia’s Story, who seems to have her life together from the outside. She’s successful, independent, has a good career… but underneath all of that, she’s carrying around so much pressure from family expectations and cultural expectations about what a woman’s life is supposed to look like.
For me, though, the real heart of this book was the relationship between Silvia and her mother. It felt so real. Messy, frustrating, loving, exhausting… all at the same time. You can feel the guilt and obligation sitting underneath so many of their interactions, but there’s also this undeniable love there as well. I also appreciated that underneath all the humour, the book has a lot to say about happiness and learning that it’s okay to want something different for yourself.
There were many moments when I caught myself smiling or nodding yes!!! It felt relatable. The humour works because it feels grounded in truth, and the emotional moments land because they never feel forced.
Overall, Silvia turned out to be a funny, uplifting and very relatable read for me. It’s about family, expectations, identity, and realising that your life doesn't have to look the way everybody else thinks it should to be meaningful. By the end, I just felt really glad I’d spent time with these characters.
I had such a lovely time with Silvia by Maya Caruso. From the very beginning, this felt like one of those books that quietly sneaks up on you. It is witty, warm, and full of those very real family dynamics that can make you laugh one minute and feel emotionally exhausted the next. Beneath it all, there is a genuinely heartfelt story about identity, expectations, and learning that happiness does not always look the way other people think it should.
We follow Silvia’s Story, who seems to have her life together from the outside. She’s successful, independent, has a good career… but underneath all of that, she’s carrying around so much pressure from family expectations and cultural expectations about what a woman’s life is supposed to look like.
For me, though, the real heart of this book was the relationship between Silvia and her mother. It felt so real. Messy, frustrating, loving, exhausting… all at the same time. You can feel the guilt and obligation sitting underneath so many of their interactions, but there’s also this undeniable love there as well. I also appreciated that underneath all the humour, the book has a lot to say about happiness and learning that it’s okay to want something different for yourself.
There were many moments when I caught myself smiling or nodding yes!!! It felt relatable. The humour works because it feels grounded in truth, and the emotional moments land because they never feel forced.
Overall, Silvia turned out to be a funny, uplifting and very relatable read for me. It’s about family, expectations, identity, and realising that your life doesn't have to look the way everybody else thinks it should to be meaningful. By the end, I just felt really glad I’d spent time with these characters.
May 18, 2026
Silvia by Maya Caruso was an entertaining read.
Silvia is 42, divorced, single, a workaholic and doomed according to her traditional Italian Mum.
When an old friend makes there way back into Silvia's life, her world is turned upside down and suddenly expanded.
As Silvia starts to live again, things also start to get messy.
I loved the growth of Silvia, she starts to live again and enjoy life, but then things get messy and she has to either make a stand and finally do what she wants or keep letting everyone tell her what they want her to do.
I liked how all the characters were formed, they were written very well and you liked and disliked them where you were supposed to, and they all helped bring the story together to make it a great read. Light hearted in spots but definitely some deep soul searching throughout.
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Echo publishing for the copy to read and review.
Silvia is 42, divorced, single, a workaholic and doomed according to her traditional Italian Mum.
When an old friend makes there way back into Silvia's life, her world is turned upside down and suddenly expanded.
As Silvia starts to live again, things also start to get messy.
I loved the growth of Silvia, she starts to live again and enjoy life, but then things get messy and she has to either make a stand and finally do what she wants or keep letting everyone tell her what they want her to do.
I liked how all the characters were formed, they were written very well and you liked and disliked them where you were supposed to, and they all helped bring the story together to make it a great read. Light hearted in spots but definitely some deep soul searching throughout.
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Echo publishing for the copy to read and review.
May 17, 2026
5 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Vibe check: Charming, Heartbreaking and Heartfelt
full review ⬇️
This book was such a surprise package for me.
Silvia starts off feeling like a contemporary rom-com but quickly becomes something much more interesting and meaningful.
There’s romance, humour and plenty of entertaining moments but at its core, this story isn’t about falling in love, it’s really about learning to love yourself and I absolutely loved that.
It takes familiar rom-com energy and twists it into something softer, more reflective and genuinely uplifting. The emotional growth felt just as important as the romantic elements, which made the whole story feel refreshing rather than predictable.
The characters are warm, messy and relatable and the balance of humour and heart was done so well.
I was left smiling while also quietly reminded about self worth, confidence and figuring out who we can all be outside of other people’s expectations.
If you love stories about personal growth alongside romance, this is such a lovely read and one that completely won me over.
A big thank you to Echo Publishing for putting this brilliant cover and story on my radar.
Vibe check: Charming, Heartbreaking and Heartfelt
full review ⬇️
This book was such a surprise package for me.
Silvia starts off feeling like a contemporary rom-com but quickly becomes something much more interesting and meaningful.
There’s romance, humour and plenty of entertaining moments but at its core, this story isn’t about falling in love, it’s really about learning to love yourself and I absolutely loved that.
It takes familiar rom-com energy and twists it into something softer, more reflective and genuinely uplifting. The emotional growth felt just as important as the romantic elements, which made the whole story feel refreshing rather than predictable.
The characters are warm, messy and relatable and the balance of humour and heart was done so well.
I was left smiling while also quietly reminded about self worth, confidence and figuring out who we can all be outside of other people’s expectations.
If you love stories about personal growth alongside romance, this is such a lovely read and one that completely won me over.
A big thank you to Echo Publishing for putting this brilliant cover and story on my radar.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews