The Wedding Officer
Anthony Capella, 2006
Random House
544 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780553384635
Summary
In the sumptuous tradition of Chocolat and Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and already optioned for a major motion picture, comes a magical tale of romantic passion, culinary delight—and Italy.
Captain James Gould arrives in wartime Naples assigned to discourage marriages between British soldiers and their gorgeous Italian girlfriends. But the innocent young officer is soon distracted by an intoxicating young widow who knows her way around a kitchen...Livia Pertini is creating feasts that stun the senses with their succulence—ruby-colored San Marzana tomatoes, glistening anchovies, and delectable new potatoes encrusted with the black volcanic earth of of Campania—and James is about to learn that his heart may rank higher than his orders.
For romance can be born of the sweet and spicy passions of food and love—and time spent in the kitchen can be as joyful and exciting as the banquet of life itself. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1962
• Where—Uganda, Africa
• Education—Oxford University
• Currently—lives in London
Anthony Capella was born in Uganda, Africa in 1962. He was educated at St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he graduated with a First in English Literature.
The Food of Love, his first novel, was a Richard and Judy Summer Read in the UK. It has been translated into nineteen languages and has been optioned for the screen by Warner. His second novel, The Wedding Officer, was an international bestseller and is being made into a film by New Line. His third novel The Various Flavours of Coffee was released 2008 and The Empress of Ice Cream in 2010. (From the the author's website.)
Book Reviews
London-based culinarian Capella (Food of Love) returns with the WWII-era story of Livia Pertini, a beautiful young widow who leaves her family's destitute country osteria to try to find work in Naples. There, English Capt, James Gould has been assigned the task of discouraging British soldiers from marrying Italian women, many of whom have turned to prostitution in order to survive. At first Gould is a stickler for the rules, closing down restaurants and denying couples permission to marry. But when Angelo, the maitre d' at restaurant Zi'Teresa, tricks him into hiring Livia as the officers' cook, things loosen up considerably. Capella celebrates war-torn pleasures of the flesh with a winning in-the-moment lightness.
Publishers Weekly
Like his debut, The Food of Love, Capella's second novel is a sensory delight, highlighting the relationship between culinary pleasures and sensual romance. Wartime Naples is the setting for an unlikely love affair, which begins when British captain James Gould meets Livia Pertini, a widow who becomes James's cook. James is the so-called Wedding Officer, the soldier who approves marriage requests between local Italian women and British men, and humor is never in short supply as he repeatedly encounters prostitutes desiring to make advantageous marriages. With Livia, James experiences passion not only through their physical desire but also through Livia's food, with its rich colors and satisfying flavors. The trauma of wartime strains their relationship, however, especially when Livia must barter with an unsavory man in order to obtain medication for her ailing father. Capella's original tale is an expertly crafted work of women's fiction, complete with captivating characters and scintillating romance. Recommended for all public libraries.
Library Journal
Capella's vividly sensuous command of the arts of both food and romance will attract readers. —Mark Knoblauch
Booklist
Capella mingles amore with alimenti in this tale of a British officer who develops an appetite for all things Italian. In February 1944, Captain James Gould is sent to Naples to enforce an army policy discouraging British soldiers from marrying Italian natives. The inexperienced officer is quickly put on the offensive when confronted with bribes and brides. James clamps down on the black market and takes a hard line when dealing with locals. They devise a ploy to soften his governance by attacking his taste buds: "A man who has eaten well-he's at peace with the world . . . he wants other people to be happy." So the black marketers place beautiful and talented cook Livia Pertini in James's kitchen. He tries to resist (it's career suicide, after all), but soon the young officer is under her spell. James reverses his stance and starts approving batches of marriage applications; he even aids the locals as they attempt to reopen businesses. Livia is standoffish at first-she's a recent widow, and the Allies treated her family vilely-but eventually she succumbs to James's clumsy seductions. Capella does a capable job capturing the essence of war-torn Italy, but his prose becomes transcendent when he pours his heart into telling the story of Italian food. Readers will appreciate the recipes for sugo (a basic tomato sauce) and other classic Italian dishes; even the most fastidious dieter may consider a pasta binge. Disappointingly, the love story isn't as appetizing as Livia's fettuccine al limone. An overwrought romance spoils a lovely feast for the senses.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What aspects of Livia’s personality are illustrated in the novel’s opening scenes? What parts of her identity fade after Enzo leaves, and what aspects are intensified when she is on her own?
2. Discuss the different types of hunger described in The Wedding Officer. Which ones are the most powerful—the hunger for companionship, food, or sex? In what way do James’s and Livia’s appetites change throughout the novel?
3. Why did James’s superiors believe it was necessary to regulate the marriages between servicemen and their Italian girlfriends? What did the interview questions indicate about the gulf between reality and pretense during this episode in history?
4. Chapter twenty-one ends with Livia feeling furious because of James’s apparent lack of interest. What do their different approaches to courtship say about their cultures?
5. Initially, James says that he doesn’t have much authority. What power does he really have? What does his experience indicate about a person’s ability to make change, regardless of what the official limitations are?
6. Discuss the issue of language as it plays out in the novel. How does it help and hinder the characters to have limitations in their ability to communicate? In what ways is food a universal language? What did James’s “food language,” which forbade things like garlic and emphasized potatoes over pasta, say about his personality?
7. Livia highlights the sensual pleasures of food when she serves the officers snails and peas, all still in their shells. What other ways does she have of using food to seduce?
8. How familiar were you with Italy’s experience with the war, and the rise of Mussolini? What aspects of history and culture in The Wedding Officer surprised you?
9. How did the economics of war become a sort of weapon as well? Was James right to try to eliminate the black market? How does corruption become defined under these circumstances? Beyond the issue of nutrition, what does it do to a community to deprive them of their national cuisine?
10. In chapter thirty, James is exasperated to discover that Livia doesn’t measure any of her ingredients. What turning points does this scene capture? What do they eventually teach each other about intuition and rules?
11. Livia deeply resents the Allies. What does her story demonstrate about the role of liberators in a foreign land?
12. Would you have given in to Alberto’s demands if you had been in Livia’s position? Was the survival of her family always the top priority in her life?
13. Livia tells James she is adamant in her support of communism. What aspects of history are captured in this conversation? What makes communism so appealing to her? What is her understanding of its promise?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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