The Apprentice Lover - by Jay Parini (Paperback)

About the Book

When Alex Massolini's brother is killed in Vietnam, he drops out of school to live in Capri and serve as secretary to world-famous writer Rupert Grant. Told with wry humor in an elegant prose style, "The Apprentice Lover" is a remarkable piece of fiction that includes appearances by such colorful literary figures as Graham Greene and W.H. Auden.

From the Back Cover

When Alex Massolini's brother is killed in Vietnam, he drops out of Columbia University and leaves his conservative family behind for Capri to become secretary to Rupert Grant, a famous British novelist and poet who dominates the island like a latter -- day Prospero. Alex soon finds himself ensnared in a web of love affairs, friendships, and rivalries within the eccentric community that inhabits the idyllic beauty of the isolated Italian island.

The Apprentice Lover traces a young American's enchantment and disenchantment -- with his American past, his new European mentor, and the various inhabitants on an island famous for its characters.

Review Quotes

"Delightful ... a rich cast of characters ... Parini does a superb job." - San Francisco Chronicle

"The Apprentice Lover ... has an unpretenstious charm, an appealing naiveté, coupled with an intelligence that gradually asserts itself as the narrator gains confidence ...[an] amusing book about a young writer's coming of age." - Washington Post Book World

"[Parini] expertly navigates this multilayered narrative." - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Pleasure-filled ... Parini writes lovingly and evocatively." - Los Angeles Times

"Richly compelling ... Parini renders the mentor-apprentice dynamic with great sensitivity." - Bookreporter.com