Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Wedding Officer: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Wedding Officer: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Wedding Officer: A Novel
    Ebook488 pages7 hours

    The Wedding Officer: A Novel

    By Anthony Capella

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    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!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateMay 1, 2007
    ISBN9780553903706
    Unavailable
    The Wedding Officer: A Novel
    Author

    Anthony Capella

    Anthony Capella was born in Uganda in 1962. He was educated at St Peter's College, Oxford, where he graduated with a First in English Literature. He is the bestselling author of The Food of Love (a Richard and Judy Summer Read), The Wedding Officer, and The Various Flavours of Coffee. His novels have been translated into 23 languages and have been bestsellers in many different countries.

    Related to The Wedding Officer

    Related ebooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      J. Jezewska Stevens

      Dec 15, 2017

      The party was a failure. I can’t even tell you what a failure it was. There are no words. Only a great pain in my chest when I wake up. On the veranda. It’s better when I sit in the chair. Oh, but then I can see around. The gauzy curtains, pushed by

      15 min read

    • Article

      An Afternoon In Her Shoes

      Jul 26, 2022

      An Afternoon In Her Shoes
      6 min read

    • Article

      Six Dart Out

      Sep 10, 2023

      Marc figured the girl was a vegan. Her puke had overflowed the sink and run onto the floor—tomatoes and rice marinated in microbrew lager. He’d told Vegan Girl to slow down, but her friends had won the turning-21-peer-pressure battle. Admittedly, Mar

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Why I Don’t Write

      Mar 7, 2019

      Why I Don’t Write
      6 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • Article

      For Isabel

      Aug 28, 2017

      For Isabel
      8 min read

    • Article

      Heave’s Whisky

      Feb 27, 2024

      Heave’s Whisky
      7 min read

    • Article

      Just Passing

      Aug 17, 2020

      Zoe cracks the curtain in the bay window and watches as he bounces from one foot to another in the cold. Tap, tap, tap, he goes at the letterbox. But she shouldn’t even let him in. He’s trouble. He throws his arms out and shouts through the glass: “S

      5 min read

    • Article

      Righteous

      Jan 22, 2019

      Righteous
      8 min read

    • Article

      In the STARS

      Jul 6, 2022

      In the STARS
      3 min read

    • Article

      How I Began to Write

      Mar 6, 2019

      How I Began to Write
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Waiting Room

      Jan 10, 2021

      Overhead the lights hummed. They were bright and fluorescent, and they reflected off the clean white walls of the waiting room to produce the unsettling effect of being folded away inside a sheet of paper. Cross-legged on the floor by the door, the b

      9 min read

    • Article

      Holidays

      Jan 16, 2022

      Holidays
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Ceremony

      Sep 6, 2022

      It was something. Out of nowhere, I didn’t give a shit about anything for like a month. Like nothing. I mean yeah, there’d been plenty of times where I didn’t give a shit about something. Oh that thing? Yeah, fuck that thing. I did it all the time. M

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Waiting Room

      May 10, 2023

      Overhead the lights hummed. They were bright and fluorescent, and they reflected off the clean white walls of the waiting room to produce the unsettling effect of being folded away inside a sheet of paper. Cross-legged on the floor by the door, the b

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Constancy of Things

      Mar 1, 2022

      The first time Anna saw Salvatore, he asked if he could borrow her goggles. She was doing a few stretches on the pool deck, still wearing those goggles, when he approached. Something had fallen out of his swimsuit pocket, he said, and he needed to di

      24 min read

    • Article

      In a class OF MY OWN

      Jan 29, 2020

      In a class OF MY OWN
      6 min read

    • Article

      Locked In A Box

      Aug 6, 2020

      Locked In A Box
      4 min read

    • Article

      Who’s The Daddy?

      Oct 23, 2020

      Who’s The Daddy?
      5 min read

    • Article

      The BRACELET

      Jan 30, 2024

      The BRACELET
      6 min read

    • Article

      Life In The past Lane

      Aug 27, 2021

      Life In The past Lane
      5 min read

    • Article

      Plain English

      Nov 1, 2019

      Plain English
      4 min read

    • Article

      Soul On Sale

      Aug 10, 2022

      I was waiting for the call at the telephone booth. I’d been waiting for fourteen or seventeen minutes and finally, I decided to leave. It was pointless. I only had a 20-dollar bill on me and no coins for the slot. Hard rain was coming, some type of s

      9 min read

    Reviews for The Wedding Officer

    3.5/5

    119 ratings12 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this story of Italy during WWII told from a point of view I had never explored before. Great for foodies! The love story is a little predictable and some of the action scenes are not believeable but I actually learned a lot and read this book quickly.
    • 2/5
      I must say the book held what the cover promised. It developed into a girlie story with love and passion and a hero. If at least the food would have played a more dominant role as it did in the author's other book "Food of Love". The book also feels as if it was written in separate parts or if there was some of it added later. The part about the kamasutra broke the flow of the story completely. I asked myself what it contributed.

      My rating: An easy read for a holiday at the beach.
    • 4/5
      Captain James Gould is a young British intelligence officer during World War II. He arrives in Naples to take over as “the Wedding Officer” – assigned to discourage marriages between British soldiers and Italian girls. He is young, somewhat innocent, and determined to follow all regulations to the letter. He seems to be succeeding when a young widow arrives as the new Officers’ Mess Cook. Livia Pertini has always cooked in her family’s restaurant/bar in the small village on Mount Vesuvius. Her fiery personality and sumptuous feasts soon distract James from his orders.

      This is a delicious novel that begins as a romantic comedy but moves on to give the reader a lesson on the history of the area in 1944. Capella writes with humor and pathos in describing the war-time experiences of the citizens and soldiers trying to survive not only a war but a volcano’s eruption. Capella wrote about real events in and around Naples in 1944, and I’m glad he included the grittier scenes of chaos and destruction. But where he really excels is in writing about the sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes of the cuisine, and the effects of those scrumptious meals on the human spirit. For example:

      He felt a sudden sense that nothing would be the same again. Eve in her garden had bitten an apple. James had eaten an oyster, sitting outside a tiny restaurant overlooking the sea by Sorrento. His undernourished heart swelled in the Italian sunshine like a ripening fig, and he laughed out loud. With a great flood of gratitude he realized that he was having the time of his life.

      I was completely caught up in the story from beginning to end. I think I must have gained 10 pounds just reading about the food! It certainly made my mouth water.
    • 4/5
      If you enjoy novels intertwined with luscious descriptions of meals, then this is a must read. Likable characters, interesting local.
    • 3/5
      Read nearly any review of The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella and you'll get a description of a 20-something British officer being sent to Italy to discourage British soldiers from bringing home Italian brides. While, yes, James Gould is a major character in the novel, saying it's all about him is misleading.Instead, the book is about the occupation of Italy by German and British forces and Livia Pertini, a cook in the foothills of Mt. Vesuvias trying to keep the family afloat. James Gould, wedding officer, doesn't show up until much later. Really and truly, this book should have been titled, The Wedding Officer's Cook.It's not that I didn't like reading Livia's story, but it's not what I went into the book expecting to read. The wedding officer bits of the book feel forced into the plot. There's also a tacked on romance at the end that I can only guess was there to appeal to "women readers."
    • 5/5
      I picked this book off my pile to take with me on a holiday to Sorrento and it was the perfect reading companion. Looking, as I did, across to the Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius, where this book is set, really brought it to life for me. The characters are wonderful. I loved Livia, the feisty Neopolitan cook, and James, the intially reserved Wedding Officer.The story is wonderful too, based partly on real life events. There really was a Wedding Officer, there to vet the potential Italian brides of British officers, and Vesuvius did erupt in 1944, during the war. I loved the way the author intertwined so many elements to make up the story: Italy, food, romance, cooking, history. It all worked so well together and I can't recommend this book highly enough.
    • 4/5
      The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella is a wonderfully romantic tale set in war-torn Italy. Captain James Gould arrives in Naples in 1943 to become the Wedding Officer, whose main duty is to prevent marriages between British soldiers and their Italian girlfriends. As a stickler for the rules, the young Captain is determined to stamp out the black market and restore order.He eventually meets and hires Livia Pertini, a beautiful widow whose cooking talent sets her far apart from other women. Captain Gould can’t seem to stay away from the kitchen and it’s not just for the lovely Livia’s cooking. He soon realizes he is falling in love with this earthy and sensuous woman. She in turn, has her own issues with the Allies as the occupation has not always gone smoothly for the locals or for her family. Her take on the young British captain with his stiff and polite ways, is at first disdainful, then she mistakenly thinks he is gay. In a delectable picnic scene, she finds out James Gould definitely prefers the fairer sex.This is not a book to be read when hungry. The deliciously described recipes are so detailed you can practically smell them cooking, they are guaranteed to give you a craving for Italian food and perhaps even make you blush, as Livia teases James with sexual innuendos thinly disguised as food preparation or eating. At times a comedy-of-errors, at other times a compelling tale of war, love and food, I was entranced with this book and highly recommend it.
    • 5/5
      “Back in old Napoli, that’s Amore”It is 1944, we are in the midst of the second world war where we find a certain feisty, yet lovely, Livia Pertini. She is the best cook in all of Southern Italy. She can be found in the small town of Fiscino, on the edge of Mount Vesuvius next door to Naples. Residing on a small farm with her sister and father, Livia is the family cook for their village osteria, the local restaurant where people come from far and wide for the best wine, cheese, and delicious meals of seafood, meat and pasta. Livia is Italian chef extraordinaire preparing delicious old Italian country dishes that guarantees the reader a mouthwatering appetite from the start to the finish of this extremely delightful bittersweet story of mixed-up love and the trials of war.The prologue of the Wedding Officer has Livia meeting Enzo, a local Neopolitan soldier recently enlisted to fight for his country. Upon stopping by the restaurant for a bit of lunch, Enzo falls head over heels with Livia and although she is not an easy conquer, the two soon fall in love and marry. But as most war stories have it, their union is short lived as Livia quickly finds herself a war bride widow. The story of The Wedding Officer however is not about Livia and Enzo, it is about Livia and James. While Livia is striving to keep up the restaurant while waiting for Enzo who has been gone for four years without word, James Gould, a British officer stationed at the nearby military base also finds his way into Livia’s world when invited to a military festivity she is cooking for. James has enlisted to be the base Wedding Officer, screening the local women as they show up by the hundreds each week to apply for marriage licenses to their soldier sweethearts. With the prostitution rate being 40% of all women in Naples during the war, James has a devil of a time finding women respectable, of sound mind, and that come from legitimate families, to allow his men to wed. This novel is about love and loss. It is at times a sweet and hilarious romantic tale as Livia and James dance the waltz of courtship, James not knowing Livia’s husband is dead, and Livia unsure if she wants to get involved with a soldier that is most likely apt to dump her as soon as the war is over. These two charming and funny characters will often go two steps forward only to retreat one step back, many times as they continually come closer and closer only to retreat again and again. Many people and many incidents beyond their control put what appears to be insurmountable obstacles in the path of their love, and it will be a test of will and patience as to whether these two lovers of different nationalities can overcome the odds against language barriers, starvation, nightly bomb air raids, natural disasters, and an evil Mafia leader who is hell bent on having Livia for his own no matter what the cost. While the reader is at times laughing, and at times weeping, from the beauty of their love as well as from the hardship of wartime death and destruction, the story also consumes us in other arenas. While in addition to the romance, we experience first hand the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The famous volcano once again wreaks havoc destroying everything in it’s path, killing the locals and burning every home along its way, spewing ash into the sky and raining pebbles the size of golf balls. This inevitable event strikes home for Livia as the lava flow fires destroy the restaurant and severely injures her father. When Vesuvius blows, James is away. He is assigned to the front lines, battling for his life to reach Livia to keep her safe from harm, and is deep in the trenches where German bombs, grenades, and machine gun fire are his only breakfast, lunch and dinner. On one hand this very moving novel is a sweet romantic comedy full of a life of good food, good wine, of love, laughter and the meaning of family and friends. On the other hand, this book is a vivid portrait painting of how the horrors of war affected Naples in World War II. The Neopolitans experienced nightly air raids not dissimilar to that of the London Blitz, their food and crops were confiscated for the war cause leaving many people starving and without means of survival. Prostitution was the only option for a woman to make money to feed her children and family, and sexually transmitted diseases ran rampant with no medical treatment available, for that too was rounded up for soldiers, therefore leaving the people of Naples sick and dying with no remedy at hand.Anthony Capella brilliantly blends the two faces of love and war, whisking together a love affair to make you smile and realize how short life is, and that we should treat each day as our last. He stirs gently into that bowl of delight, a frightening volcano very much alive and kicking, and bakes the ingredients all together with a volatile dose of bloodshed and war. The reader will love the recipes interspersed throughout the story, for no one eats and cooks like the Italians. I found this precious novel an unexpected pleasure to read, and now plan to go find the author’s first and last books. Capella’s writing is outstanding. The variety of emotions the author evokes shows great talent and should not be missed. I promise you that when you turn the pages, you will taste the wine, smell the lemon trees, and will stop breathing while you feel the vibrations of the bombs that drop on the hearts of innocent people. I’m told that this book will be made into a major motion picture in 2011 and I for one can’t wait. Bravo for this Italian literary dish served up with much courage and the power love.
    • 4/5
      This book was a bit of a surprise to me. Reading his first novel, The Food of Love, what you got was a romantic comedy based upon the Cyrano theme: fun-filled, light, and full of sensuous descriptions of food. I expected the same from this book based upon its description."It's 1944, and Captain James Gould arrives in Naples, assigned to discourage marriages between British soldiers and their gorgeous Italian girlfriends...Once a masterful cook in her father's restaurant, Livia Pertini is the Allied officers' new chef."You can guess where it goes from there.However, though the book is still humorous and generally light reading...and is certainly filled with sensuous descriptions of food...Capella adds a bit more roundness to this work by including the darker aspects of Italy 1944: the complete destruction of a country caused by both retreating Germans and advancing Allies; 40,000 Neapolitan women (out of the estimated 90,000 women in Naples) working as prostitutes to avoid starvation; the Allied plan to kidnap those prostitutes who had syphilis and forcibly relocate them behind German lines in order to infect the enemy soldiers; the list goes on. Some, perhaps, will not like these darker notes in their romantic comedy, but I thought it made the book a richer. Instead of hearing a single note throughout the entire story, one reactions shift back and forth, providing more contrast.Perhaps I felt that Laura and Bruno in his first book had slightly more chemistry than Livia and James do in this one, but it's a minor flaw in the overall work which I would certainly classify as a very pleasant summer read. Definitely R-rated if you're planning on giving it to someone without reading it first.
    • 2/5
      A wonderful historical fiction novel about WWII. The sensuality and passion of food, war, and love came through on every page. I could taste the dishes that Livia created.
    • 4/5
      Once again, Anthony Capella has merged the flavors of Italy with love. This time young British officer, James Gould, is stationed in Naples during WWII assigned to discourage marriage between local women and Allied soldiers. Then James meets the lovely widow Livia Pertini who is hired as the cook for his men. Gradually his heart melts as easily as the mozarella that Livia makes.
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable, light, fluffy read. A bit predictable but that doesn't spoil it.