The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti »

Annie Vanderbilt graduated from Radcliffe College and has been a Peace Corps volunteer in India, a leader of wilderness programs for high school students, co-owner of a ski touring center in Idaho, and a 'round the world bicyclist. Her writing has been published in several magazines.

The coast of Southern France sparkles in this sexy, mature, and engaging debut novel.

Lily has come to southern France in search of a new perspective, hoping that the sun's soft rays and the fragrant sea breezes will provide a relaxing respite from the demands of her lively daughter and her family's Idaho cattle ranch. Two years after her husband's sudden death, in the house that's been in his family for generations, she finally finds some stolen weeks to make sense of the past.

To Madame Olivetti—her cranky old manual typewriter—Lily entrusts all her secrets, pounding out the story of the men she loved, the betrayals she endured, the losses she still regrets. And with the companionship of Yves, the seductive handyman who comes by to make repairs, Lily comes closer to understanding her exhilarating past—and to discovering she has a new story to tell—one about the delights of starting over.

Publishers Weekly

Debut novelist Vanderbilt (yes, those Vanderbilts) charmingly wends her way through the memories of wealthy widow Lily Crisp. Lily's story spools from her beloved Olivetti typewriter at the family home in southern France. Lily recounts her travels and her life on an Idaho ranch with Paul, her husband, and his French mother. The house, inherited from her mother-in-law, and passed on to Lily after Paul's death, holds a mystery in the form of a longtime lodger who may or may not have something to do with a slowly teased out tragic secret that sits at the center of Lily and Paul's marriage. Meanwhile, a hunky handyman Lily retains admires more than Lily's typewritten remembrances. Things are slow to start, but about halfway in, the plot picks up and events past and present collide in surprising ways. The story may meander too much for some readers, but those who relish delightful prose and quirky adventuresses should be satisfied. (Oct.)

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