The Summer Villa
THE NUMBER ONE IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER Praise for Melissa Hill: ‘I was completely gripped’ Sarah Morgan ‘Addictive!’ Grazia ‘Blissfully escapist’ Marie Claire ************************************************************* Three women. One summer reunion. Secrets will be revealed… Villa Dolce Vita, a rambling stone house on the Amalfi Coast, sits high above the Gulf of Naples amidst dappled lemon groves and the fragrant, tumbling bougainvillea. Kim, Colette and Annie all came to the villa in need of escape and in the process forged an unlikely friendship. Now, years later, Kim has transformed the crumbling house into a luxury retreat and has invited her friends back for the summer to celebrate. But as friendships are rekindled under the Italian sun, secrets buried in the past will come to light, and not everyone is happy that the three friends are reuniting… Each woman will have things to face up to if they are all to find true happiness and fully embrace the sweet life. An epic summer read about food, friendship and the magic of Italy, perfect for fans of Jill Mansell and Sheila O’Flanagan. ************************************************************* Why readers love Melissa Hill: ‘This book lifted my spirits’ ‘Fun, engaging and a real page turner’ ‘You know Melissa Hill will draw you in with her stories’ ‘A romantic read that left me thinking “just how does Melissa Hill do it?”’
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‘I was completely gripped’
Sarah Morgan
‘Addictive!’
Grazia
‘Another great read from the best-selling Irish author’
Hello!
‘This emotive story will touch your heart’
My Weekly
‘A blissfully escapist romp’
Marie Claire
‘Will keep you turning the pages until the very end’
Woman
‘An absorbing tale … Hill doesn’t disappoint’
Irish Independent
MELISSA HILL lives in Wicklow with her husband and daughter. A USA Today, Irish Times and international bestseller, her novels are published worldwide and translated into 25 different languages, with multiple adaptations currently in development for movies and TV.
Visit her website at www.melissahill.ie or contact her on Twitter @melissahillbks, or melissahillbooks on Facebook and Instagram.
Something You Should Know
Not What You Think
Never Say Never
Wishful Thinking
All Because of You
The Last to Know
Before I Forget
Please Forgive Me
The Truth About You
Something From Tiffany’s
The Charm Bracelet
The Guest List
A Gift to Remember
The Hotel on Mulberry Bay
The Love of a Lifetime
A Diamond From Tiffany’s
Keep You Safe
The Summer Villa
Melissa Hill
ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019
Copyright © Melissa Hill 2019
Melissa Hill asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Ebook Edition © August 2019 ISBN: 9780008217204
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Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008217198
To great friends, old and new.
Contents
It was just a little white lie. A way to kickstart her freedom.
And Kim Weston was now officially a runaway.
She couldn’t help but laugh at the idea as she stared out the window of the aeroplane into the abyss around her. Thirty years old – an adult – and here she was, running away from home.
She’d boarded a flight from JFK earlier and watched as the sky turned from pale blue to black. They were already six hours into a nine-hour journey and she was tired but couldn’t sleep.
There wasn’t a star to be seen, no way to discriminate the ocean below from the sky above. Nothing but emptiness.
Ironic because it was exactly how Kim felt inside. She had no reason to, or so everyone told her.
She had everything – the luxurious Manhattan apartment, a personal driver to take her wherever she wanted to go, generous expense accounts at all the best Fifth Avenue stores, and a black Amex to service every last one of her spending needs.
She and her friends were the crème de la crème of New York’s Upper East Side society set and partied with celebrities and VIPs alike. By all accounts she had the quintessential dream life.
So why was she running away?
She could still hear her parents’ voices in her head and her own guilt in her heart as she sat quietly nursing a vodka and orange juice.
Most of the cabin’s passengers were asleep, and the crew was moving around less frequently, but Kim’s mind simply wouldn’t quit.
For once, she wasn’t playing the role she’d been allotted. If she was expected to assume her part in the Weston family script for the rest of her life, then she needed a chance to play the rebel, even if only briefly.
