Villa Coco by Sean Greer

Monday, Aug. 17, 2026--San Antonio

Villa Coco by Sean Greer was a fun novel to read.  A young American college graduate with a degree in archiving and no idea of how he is going to earn a living from it, is informed by his professor that a baronessa in Tuscany is looking for someone to archive every item in her home by December and will pay for his travel there and for him to do the job.  He arrives to find that things are not exactly what he expected.  The baronessa is a bit querky and expects him to do other things, too, including to help bring in the olive harvest during the week prior to their scheduled time for bringing it to the olive presser.  Plus, she has friends who keep coming for visits that delay his work--an Italian princessa, and old friend who was a "business" partner in her early adult life and is her best friend.  A woman who is half Algerian lives down the road and is her closest friend; we learn late in the novel the unique reason they know each other.  We also learn that the baronessa may have other secrets in her past life and definitely has a secret about what is going to happen in December.  A nephew of the baronessa who came to live with her for a year as a teenager is also part of the story.  He is now married, but when he shows up at the villa, he and the young student (close in age) find themselves attracted to each other.  So a secondary story runs along with that of the baronessa regarding the expectations of each of the men about what would be a good life if they want to have a long-term relationship.  But the biggest surprise of all is kept until the very end of the novel.  What has the baronessa been planning?  Will this conservative young student who has done her archiving return to his life in America?  What has been behing everything that has been happening?  And what will the future hold for all of the characters in the story?  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.