Kate Langbroek’s deliciously funny and inspiring memoir about moving to Italy with her family to seek la dolce vita. ‘A wonderful story, beautifully written, filled with heart and humour’ Liane Moriarty (reviewing Ciao Bella! on 3pm Pick Up, KIIS 1065) I wasn’t looking to fall in love. It just happened. There were moments, encounters as fleeting as feelings. Sometimes – tellingly – they emerged from chaos. When Kate Langbroek first dreamed of moving to Italy, she imagined a magnificent sun-drenched pastiche of long lunches and wandering through cobbled laneways clutching a loaf of crusty bread and a bottle of wine, Sophia Loren-style, while handsome men called out ‘Ciao Bella!’ In the stark light of day the dream Kate shared with her husband Peter after an idyllic holiday in Italy seemed like madness. They didn’t speak Italian. They knew no one in Italy. They had four children. Kate also had the best job in the world on a top-rating radio show with her longtime friend, Dave Hughes. But the siren song of Italy was irresistible. This would be the adventure of a lifetime, a precious opportunity to spend more time with their children – Lewis, Sunday, Artie and Jannie – and it came from a deep well inside to seize life after they almost lost Lewis to leukaemia. Ciao Bella! is about having a dream and living it as Kate shares the sublime joys and utter chaos of adapting to a new life in Bologna, what you discover about yourself when you are a stranger in a strange land, and how she fell in love. With a country. Deliciously funny, insightful and often deeply moving, Ciao Bella! is Kate’s love letter to Italy and her family. It is also a glorious reminder of what Italians can teach us about living life to the full – and what really matters when the world goes to hell in a handbasket.
Love is a many splendoured thing but busting up is a reality. We've all suffered the humiliation and heart-ache of love gone wrong, but the good news is we nearly always get over it Dear Jack, inspired by the song Hit the Road, Jack, is a compilation of break-up letters from some of Australia's most well-known people. They include politicians, poets, musicians, mothers, actors, artists, imposters, comedians, writers and friends. These people share some of their past pain (or pleasure), associated with breaking up with someone they have loved. This is pretty personal stuff, which makes makes this book extraordinary reading. Letters have been dug up from the bottom of drawers, old boxes and gargages; others have reconstructed the the heart-ache and humour from the dark depths of imagination (the real evidence burnt or discarded, or just yelled out in the heat of the moment). Some contributors claim to have never dumped or been dumped in writing and so wrote the missive they never got a chance to. Some letters are years old, others bear the blood of fresh wounds. The passion and pain of love on the rocks is captured here in all its heart-wrenching glory. Some people are serial monogamists, serial adulterers, serial jiltees, bigamists and romantic fools ... others are just losers in love. Reliving past experiences can be cathartic. Or it can be hell. But the main thing is that confusion and rejection are common to us all - everyone who has loved has lost. Heartbreak hotel is always full. To quote from another old song, 'you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.' But while Dear Jack is a book of break-up letters, it's also a celebration of life and love with its humour and pathos ... and the credo that fortune favours the brave! Contributors include Bruce Ruxton, Carlotta, Chopper Read, Denise Drysdale, Jason Donovan, John Clarke, Julia Morris, Matt Condon, Marcus Graham, Red Symons, Sheila Scotter, Tim Ferguson and Wilbure Wilde. The list goes on and on. 'This ain't working' ... John Safran 'I'm devastated to think that I thought I had found friend in you and saddened that I was so very wrong'... Julia Morris 'Now, Jack, let's be mates, mate, and don't blame the yanks for everything' ... Bruce Ruxton 'You dumb bitch, by what stretch of your limited imagination could you possibly believe that there is someone out there better than me'... Red Symons 'Where does one find the words to say it's time to move on with our lives?' ... Carlotta
Kate Langbroek’s deliciously funny and inspiring memoir about moving to Italy with her family to seek la dolce vita. ‘A wonderful story, beautifully written, filled with heart and humour’ Liane Moriarty (reviewing Ciao Bella! on 3pm Pick Up, KIIS 1065) I wasn’t looking to fall in love. It just happened. There were moments, encounters as fleeting as feelings. Sometimes – tellingly – they emerged from chaos. When Kate Langbroek first dreamed of moving to Italy, she imagined a magnificent sun-drenched pastiche of long lunches and wandering through cobbled laneways clutching a loaf of crusty bread and a bottle of wine, Sophia Loren-style, while handsome men called out ‘Ciao Bella!’ In the stark light of day the dream Kate shared with her husband Peter after an idyllic holiday in Italy seemed like madness. They didn’t speak Italian. They knew no one in Italy. They had four children. Kate also had the best job in the world on a top-rating radio show with her longtime friend, Dave Hughes. But the siren song of Italy was irresistible. This would be the adventure of a lifetime, a precious opportunity to spend more time with their children – Lewis, Sunday, Artie and Jannie – and it came from a deep well inside to seize life after they almost lost Lewis to leukaemia. Ciao Bella! is about having a dream and living it as Kate shares the sublime joys and utter chaos of adapting to a new life in Bologna, what you discover about yourself when you are a stranger in a strange land, and how she fell in love. With a country. Deliciously funny, insightful and often deeply moving, Ciao Bella! is Kate’s love letter to Italy and her family. It is also a glorious reminder of what Italians can teach us about living life to the full – and what really matters when the world goes to hell in a handbasket.
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