Annie Hawes is an Englishwoman who has lived in a tumbledown cottage in the Ligurian hills in Italy for about a decade. In Ripe for the Picking she picks up the story of her book Extra Virgin to recount more of her adventures among the locals.

The problem with this genre is that the authors often find it difficult to resist exaggeration. Their adventures abroad are always a bit unbelievable. Can the locals really be that eccentric? Are the difficulties fitting in always so troublesome? Is rural life in Italy or Greece or Spain really so charming? Happily, Annie Hawes avoids most of these pitfalls. Ripe for the Picking is down to earth, easy going and realistic. Hawes portrays the locals as ordinary, but interesting people instead of curious and amusing foreigners, and she writes about her day-to-day adventures in the Italian hills with zest, fresh humour and genuine appreciation for her hosts. When she gets snagged on a cultural difference she is more likely to examine herself than to blame her new culture. Finally, Hawes' book sheds light on the fast-paced, neurotic Anglo-Saxon existence from which she came. She reminds us that a dose of Italy would do us all good. --Dwight Longenecker