August 21, 2023
Based on real-life American expatriates who hosted creative luminaries at their Antibes home, “Villa America,” this entertaining 1927-set novel from Blume (Julia and the Art of Practical Travel), follows 10-year-old New Yorker Alice Atherton, an only child grieving her mother’s death six months earlier. Hoping to revive her spirits, her publisher father sends Alice to the South of France to stay with his friends Gerald and Sara Murphy, experts on “the art of living fully.” Welcomed to the Murphys’ home in Antibes, Alice joins their three children, pet monkey, and famous visitors, including Sergei Diaghilev, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso. Offered a summertime education “unlike any other,” the children make art with Picasso, learn to appreciate simple things with Hemingway, and embark on a treasure hunt with the Fitzgeralds, hijinks that help Alice learn to enjoy life while grappling with the loss of her mother. Comedic characterizations and standard adventure plotting accompany an amusing premise, idyllic French Riviera ambiance, and introduction to era-specific creatives in this upbeat escapade. Characters present as white. Capsule biographies of the historical figures conclude. Ages 8–12. Agent: Molly Friedrich and Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency.