I’d heard of Lettice Cooper but never read anything by her. Among many interesting things about her life, she helped to establish Public Lending Right. This is a coming of age novel which morphs into a family saga. It starts in the 1930s, when a young teacher from Yorkshire, Ellen Fenwick (nicknamed Fenny) becomes a governess in Italy and falls in love with the place. We follow her through the challenges of relationships and family life, against the backdrop of the rise of fascism in Italy, through to the aftermath of the war. It’s very much a character-driven novel. Fenny is an extremely good person and much invested in the wellbeing of her charges, even after they are grown up. It’s not quite the delightful summer read that was promised and it does have dark moments, but there was something compelling and good-natured about it that I wanted to keep reading, even when nothing much was happening. I think that anyone who enjoys the Persephone Classics or Virago kind of novel will like this book. First published in 1953, it’s part of the Mermaid Collection by Penguin, which highlights lesser-known novels by women. I would have preferred it to be shorter, as the e-book was approaching 500 pages, and I felt the story wasn’t really resolved. I was hoping for better things for Fenny, however I appreciated the conclusion was down to earth, rather than a conventional romantic or happy ending.