The Montegiallo School of Swearing by Andrew HC McDonald is a hilarious and entertaining story of cultural differences, finding yourself and romance.
English teacher Brian Chapman is a runner up for Victorian Teacher of the Year. After celebrating or commiserating his loss with his friend Tony, and after way too many margaritas, Brian wakes to a confusing message. It says, “Congratulations, your one Euro payment has been accepted and the property has been reserved in your name.”
The email has come from real estate agents, Franco and Viviana Messina, in Montegiallo. It is followed by, “Thank you, Mr Chapman, your non refundable payment of 5000 Euros has been processed”.
Brian has bought an Italian mansion in Montegiallo through the Italian Government scheme to revitalise rural towns. The deposit will be paid to tradespeople when renovations are started on the property.
Brian asks himself, “Did I really do that?” The answer is, “Yes, you really did!”
Brian is recently divorced, their property has been sold and it will settle in two weeks. He has given notice at school as he certainly didn’t want to bump into his ex. The non-refundable deposit equates to $8,000 Australian, and he is not going to lose that.
Brian decides it is time to start his new life. That new life will start after a 28 hour flight to reach his new home.
Once Brian arrives, we are taken on a hilarious journey as Brian transforms himself from old Brian to new Brian. He explores his house, discovering just what he has purchased.
He tries to fit in with the locals, armed with his school days book of Personal Italian Grammar. He soon meets other expats, although none are from Australia, and he has to negotiate the complicated building arrangements within the town. His visa doesn’t allow him to work, and he will need to do something to supplement his savings. A surprising and hilarious “cash employment” opportunity arises, which turns the town upside down.
The best news for Brian is that Franco and Viviana are father and daughter. Viviana is rather stunning, and Brian is rather interested. But just what does Viviana think of him?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is easy and fun to read, with so much humour. I found I couldn’t put it down, I just kept wanting to know what would happen next.
Brian, Viviana, and the residents of Montegiallo are wonderful characters. This is Andrew’s first novel and I can’t wait to see what his next will be!
Just a tiny heads up….there is some swearing involved, but all in the name of fun.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading The Montegiallo School of Swearing by Andrew HC McDonald. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
The Montegiallo School of Swearing by Andrew HC McDonald (Fremantle Press) is hilarious! So entertaining I read it in one sitting!
Brian, is a down in the dumps, recently divorced English teacher. But his life changes when on a drunken whim he buys a one euro ‘fixer-upper’ villa in Sicily.
Leaving behind dreary Melbourne and armed with just his high school Italian text book, what follows is a crazy tale of how Brian reinvents himself in the crumbling, worn out village of Montegiallo, despite recalcitrant trades people, needy expats and resentful locals.
Brian’s likeable but clumsy encounters with the quirky locals as he attempts to bridge cultural and language differences is very believable, and the way he changes everyone’s lives for the better, is just pure gold.
This is such a colourful and entertaining read – It made me laugh and cringe all at the same time. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thankyou Beauty and Lace and Freemantle Press for the opportunity to review ‘The Montegiallo School of Swearing’ by Andrew HC McDonald.
On beginning the book you have no idea what this book is going to be about, I was unsure, I only knew it was going to be entertaining!
Brian’s (he’s runner up teacher of the year) divorce settlement is in 2 weeks and he is looking forward to a new start with his $30.000 settlement.
After the night out with his friend Toby where they’ve both had a ‘good time’ Brian has woken up hungover to find that he has actually bought a historic house in Italy for less than $2 Australian!
Realising he wouldn’t be able to back out without financial loss, all the paperwork completed, he heads off to Italy armed with his ‘Personal Italian Grammar book’ and a ‘Skeletor’ (his only connection to home). His new home is in the old town of Montegiallo and it is there that he is met by the real estate pair, father Franco, and daughter, striking Viviana.
They escort him to his seven toilet mansion, only one operating!
He is determined to assimilate and to speak Italian to the locals unlike the American and English in the lower town. Meeting them socially he finds that getting trades-people, who he badly needs is not going to be easy!
This book was so good, funny, and also very interesting.
If you want to read a book thats out of the ordinary then The Montegiallo School of Swearing by Andrew HC McDonald is the one for you.
I wasnt sure where we were heading with this story but I really loved it. Totally different to any other book ive read.
Brian finds that after a drunken night that he has purchased a property in Italy for One Euro. Unhappy with his life he decides to just go with it and throw himself into this new life of living in Italy and renovating an old property but all is not as easy as it seems which leads to lots of drama and a couple of parts where I got to laugh out loud.
I ended up jumping on google and found that you can indeed buy properties for One Euro in Italy. If I could be sure that it would all work out like it did for Brian I might be keen to give it a shot.
This is a fun book that is worth the read.
The Montegiallo School of Swearing, a ‘novel’ idea for novel by Andrew HC McDonald. Proving that swearing is not only good for you, it’s also good for the small community you’ve embraced, after a late night one euro purchase on an Italian website.
Brian Chapman equipped with an antiquated Italian phrase book, a friendly, inquisitive, outgoing nature and a dwindling bank account, tackles the restoration of his multi toilet villa and a staircase so hazardous you wouldn’t dare consider tackling it without a harness and a hard hat.
This story has plenty of laugh out loud moments, loveable, endearing characters and Brian’s love / hate relationship with the other crew of one Euro new homeowners down the hill.
I was so intrigued to read, The Montegiallo School of Swearing it had me hooked at the book title alone. Thank you Beauty and Lace and Fremantle Press for the opportunity, it was a very enjoyable read.