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L'accelerato per Milano
Su e giù per l'Europa scorre per due anni, con humor penetrante, l'incredibile esistenza di una ragazza e dei suoi tre eroi deragliati dal binario della normaità.
260 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
6 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Lisa St. Aubin de Terán
64 books61 followersLisa St. Aubin de Terán was born Lisa Rynveld in South London. She attended the James Allen's Girls' School. She married a Venezuelan landowner, Jaime Terán in 1971, at the age of 17, and became a farmer of sugar cane, avocados, pears, and sheep from 1972-1978.
Her second husband was the Scottish poet and novelist George MacBeth. After the marriage failed, she married painter Robbie Duff Scott and moved to Umbria, Italy.
In 1982, St. Aubin de Terán published her first novel, Keepers of the House. This novel was the recipient of the Somerset Maugham Award. Her second novel, The Slow Train to Milan, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. She received the Eric Gregory for Poetry in 1983. Her work includes novels, memoirs, poetry, and short-story collections.
St. Aubin de Terán has three children, including a daughter by her first husband, Iseult Teran, who is also a novelist.
She currently lives in Amsterdam with her partner Mees Van Deth, where she runs a film company and has set up the Terán Foundation in Mozambique.
Her second husband was the Scottish poet and novelist George MacBeth. After the marriage failed, she married painter Robbie Duff Scott and moved to Umbria, Italy.
In 1982, St. Aubin de Terán published her first novel, Keepers of the House. This novel was the recipient of the Somerset Maugham Award. Her second novel, The Slow Train to Milan, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. She received the Eric Gregory for Poetry in 1983. Her work includes novels, memoirs, poetry, and short-story collections.
St. Aubin de Terán has three children, including a daughter by her first husband, Iseult Teran, who is also a novelist.
She currently lives in Amsterdam with her partner Mees Van Deth, where she runs a film company and has set up the Terán Foundation in Mozambique.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 13, 2018
I have been reading De Teran`s books a longtime, like my life she has spent many years in Italy and has a great love for it. The trains in Europe are so great and each of her rides leads to encounters with mad characters, traveling with way too much luggage forgetting to bring any food. missing trains and just making them .she is a fascinating character madly flamboyant with kids in tow in some books.i hope she will write for many years to come so i can follow her adventures.
June 16, 2022
Will re-read and review. First read this when I was a schoolgirl.
I read this a long time ago, but it sticks out. I re-read it several times also. I suppose the attraction is the sheer somersaulting of all possible conventions. They ride this particular train so they can sleep while it's travelling, because they have no money to spend on accommodation. And I'll always remember the story, or rather the strategy for a free meal. They ordered the item on the menu which took the longest to prepare, and then consumed endless baskets of bread, butter and drinks; then at the last possible point one would leave, and then the other usually our narrator would make an excuse to check the bathrooms, and run like mad.
Her descriptions of Venice, Milan and other places I don't remember - the Colosseum are brilliant.
But she gets ill, a kidney infection that isn't treated. She lies for weeks on a blood soaked mattress getting weaker, and weaker. She dresses in Edwardian dresses, years before anyone else considered vintage wear and basically does all and anything to undercut convention/ middle-class conservatism.
At the same time she suffers; her connection with the Venezuelan dilettante is degrading. But she is locked in a battle of passive rebellion.
I loved it.
I read this a long time ago, but it sticks out. I re-read it several times also. I suppose the attraction is the sheer somersaulting of all possible conventions. They ride this particular train so they can sleep while it's travelling, because they have no money to spend on accommodation. And I'll always remember the story, or rather the strategy for a free meal. They ordered the item on the menu which took the longest to prepare, and then consumed endless baskets of bread, butter and drinks; then at the last possible point one would leave, and then the other usually our narrator would make an excuse to check the bathrooms, and run like mad.
Her descriptions of Venice, Milan and other places I don't remember - the Colosseum are brilliant.
But she gets ill, a kidney infection that isn't treated. She lies for weeks on a blood soaked mattress getting weaker, and weaker. She dresses in Edwardian dresses, years before anyone else considered vintage wear and basically does all and anything to undercut convention/ middle-class conservatism.
At the same time she suffers; her connection with the Venezuelan dilettante is degrading. But she is locked in a battle of passive rebellion.
I loved it.
December 5, 2008
Currently re-reading for the 'nth' time, and still finding it facinating. Also have read Keeper of the house, which is the sequel and 'Hacienda' which is the memoir of 'keeper of the house' which is a novel based on fact. ie. Hacienda is the real story.
April 26, 2012
One of my absolute all time favorite books. It is an amazing journey and you feel filthy whilst you are reading the book (but in a good way). An unusual, true story of a young lady's adventures on a train with her newlywed husband (that she hardly knows). Excellent. Unusual.
August 17, 2025
2.5 stars. great writing but all these characters pissed me off with how intelligent they are and yet choose to have the stupidest hills to die on. and generally i love the book style where characters wander from place to place and theres no huge driving force but LORD i was begging for them to get a grip and actually do something
‘For goodness’ sake,’ I told him, ‘can’t you see the difference between being brave and being just plain stupid?’
‘Is there a difference?’
‘For goodness’ sake,’ I told him, ‘can’t you see the difference between being brave and being just plain stupid?’
‘Is there a difference?’
February 12, 2022
I was waiting for something to happen all the way through the book… nothing really did. There were certainly excellent descriptions of people and places, but it was an easy book to put down.
October 1, 2014
This writer was recommended to me by a friend who read her book with a name 'A valley in Italy' or something similar.
I decided to first start reading one of her older books also partly situated in Italy: The Slow Train To Milan.
This book appeared to be a biography of her at the age of 15, 16 falling in love with an older man from Venezuela.
And marrying the guy.
Although he treated her like sh.t.
Sleeping almost 24/7 and not communicating.
Why?
They lived in London (with her mum), in Paris (which he hated), in Milan, Bologna, etc.
They ran out of money, because he refused to ask his family in Venezuela for money.
He could not quit smoking and even had her on her hands and knees looking for old sigaret ends in the street to reuse and make cigarets !
I mean .... !
His friends were also very strange, used to steal everything they wanted, including cars.
In the end they went by boat back to Venezuela where apparently he had lots of land, a wealthy person.
I decided to first start reading one of her older books also partly situated in Italy: The Slow Train To Milan.
This book appeared to be a biography of her at the age of 15, 16 falling in love with an older man from Venezuela.
And marrying the guy.
Although he treated her like sh.t.
Sleeping almost 24/7 and not communicating.
Why?
They lived in London (with her mum), in Paris (which he hated), in Milan, Bologna, etc.
They ran out of money, because he refused to ask his family in Venezuela for money.
He could not quit smoking and even had her on her hands and knees looking for old sigaret ends in the street to reuse and make cigarets !
I mean .... !
His friends were also very strange, used to steal everything they wanted, including cars.
In the end they went by boat back to Venezuela where apparently he had lots of land, a wealthy person.
April 8, 2021
Well, I had first thought of rating this book with just two stars. It is another case of much a do about nothing, with a history of a group of curious friends that move up and down a train line (there is a bit more to it, of course, but basically...) . As I finally have made it to the end, I have rated it with three stars, as the writing is excellent and the author has a great capacity to narrate whatever little content there is to narrate. But as I say, the style is a pleasure to read and it keeps you hooked to the end.
April 25, 2012
Spirit of Italy
August 1, 2015
I loved this novel when I first read it twenty years ago and reading again while taking the train from Paris to Milan and then onto Siena has been heavenly.
March 13, 2024
clawing my eyes out
August 24, 2023
Such a beautiful story. Young Lisaveta meets a handsome, South American stranger on the streets of London. He ends up in her home, though he speaks no English. He is a Venezuelan exile, wanted for political dealings back home, and within weeks of their meeting, Lisa marries him.
The story is, I believe, autobiographical. The author married a Venezuelan exile in real-life, and a lot of what she describes happened. Even if it isn't a 'true history' it is still commendably readable stuff. There is so much emotion squeezed onto every page that it is impossible not to get sucked in. I very quickly found myself caring about the people Lisa cares about, and I was sad when she was.
The sense of leaving things, and people, and places, behind is captured so well I finished this book feeling melancholic about the places I'd been to. It made me want to go out and be with friends, but I didn't have any to call so late, so I had an uneasy sleep that night. I think this is one of those books that will work its magic on me in the months to come, much like 'A Razor's Edge.'
The story is, I believe, autobiographical. The author married a Venezuelan exile in real-life, and a lot of what she describes happened. Even if it isn't a 'true history' it is still commendably readable stuff. There is so much emotion squeezed onto every page that it is impossible not to get sucked in. I very quickly found myself caring about the people Lisa cares about, and I was sad when she was.
The sense of leaving things, and people, and places, behind is captured so well I finished this book feeling melancholic about the places I'd been to. It made me want to go out and be with friends, but I didn't have any to call so late, so I had an uneasy sleep that night. I think this is one of those books that will work its magic on me in the months to come, much like 'A Razor's Edge.'
July 7, 2022
From my to-be-read bookshelf and with a pounds sterling price pencilled in the inside cover so I must have bought it in the UK, but exactly when I have no idea. I have a vague recollection of reading and enjoying another Lisa St Aubin de Terán novel decades ago, but it escapes me which one it was.
This particular novel fulfills the Popsugar Reading Challenge prompt “a book set on a plane, train or cruise ship.” It’s actually like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I know we did things differently back in the 1970s. I myself have had adventures that I cannot believe, with hindsight, I thought were perfectly acceptable behavior. Slow Train is based in the author’s actual experiences according to the bio. The four friends, erstwhile South American guerrillas, remind me of some people I used to know whose behavior was questionable to say the least. I always felt so respectable compared to them. Problems of the idle rich which you just know will not end well.
This particular novel fulfills the Popsugar Reading Challenge prompt “a book set on a plane, train or cruise ship.” It’s actually like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I know we did things differently back in the 1970s. I myself have had adventures that I cannot believe, with hindsight, I thought were perfectly acceptable behavior. Slow Train is based in the author’s actual experiences according to the bio. The four friends, erstwhile South American guerrillas, remind me of some people I used to know whose behavior was questionable to say the least. I always felt so respectable compared to them. Problems of the idle rich which you just know will not end well.
June 19, 2019
An autobiography without the fidelity.
December 10, 2020
Semi autobiographical novel based on the author's life. Had me immediately hooked.
January 9, 2022
a book to re-read and re-read and re-read…
July 9, 2024
3.5 afgerond naar boven want wel heerlijk boek zeg
December 27, 2023
Strange and subtle novel of youthful rebellion narrated through a haze of passed time that softens the sharp edges of passion, envy, penury and obsession, etched over the face of Italian cities
May 31, 2012
Magical, absorbing and fascinating. The author has clearly led an extraordinary life and this book is based on one part of it.
Despite occasional "REALLY?!" moments (i slightly struggled to believe that "Veta"'s family would show so little interest in her welfare, this was a fantastic read in every sense.
Despite occasional "REALLY?!" moments (i slightly struggled to believe that "Veta"'s family would show so little interest in her welfare, this was a fantastic read in every sense.
May 25, 2014
A great, semi-autobiographical read.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews