"Jennifer's ability to vividly describe her impressions in Improvising in Italian takes the reader on a fantastic trip where we, too, get to experience the food, the land, the peopleand it's all so delicious! A perfect read for the globally curiousthe adventurer at heart!" Jessica Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author of Impossible Odds "Blend together unstoppable love, delectable food, and a craving for adventure. Add fistfuls of mishaps, some funny and others truly scary. Mix with heaping amounts of resilience, and you have a recipe for a sumptuousand profoundmemoir. Improvising in Italian is a winning chronicle of the quest for a fully authentic life." Dawn Raffel, author of Boundless as the Sky "Part memoir, part travelogue, Jennifer Artley's Improvising in Italian is an honest, compelling, fascinating insider's view of a husband and wife starting a new life together as they take up residence in a small Italian city. Amongst the oldworld beauty, culinary delights, and bureaucratic nonsense, they attempt to create a perfect life, just as a mysterious virus, COVID19, begins to turn the world upside down and inside out. As her husband's various business ideas fizzle and fall apart, Jennifer tries desperately to hold things together, doing her best to support her husband's hopes and dreams, while grappling to make sense of her own life. A gem of a book that'll have you eagerly turning pages to find out what ultimately survives a world in chaos." Charles Salzberg, awardwinning writer, threetime Shamus Award nominee, and author of Man on the Run "Artley's breezy style of writing echoes the improvisational spirit that defines her memoir. . . . Her conversational tone draws readers into her world, making even the most personal struggles relatable and engaging. With courage and vulnerability, she opens herself to curiosity and adventure. Perfect book for fans who's ever dreamed of starting over in a foreign land." Dahlia AbrahamKlein, author of Caravan of Hope: A Bukharan Woman's Journey to Freedom "In Improvising in Italian, Jennifer Artley takes a different approach from the welltrodden romantic notion of starting over in an exotic foreign country. . . . Artley, who has traveled the world and lived in numerous exotic locations, finds herself and her partner mired in a minefield of awkward business ventures while navigating the morality of being a wealthier immigrant in a country that opened its doors to others who are fleeing for their lives. "In this painfully honest memoir and perhaps cautionary tale, Artley doesn't mince words about the unsavory side of doing business, the unusual mixture of friendships that develop, and the sheer terror of being in lockdown in Italy during COVID19. . . . Her story is philosophical and poignant and offers rare insight into the reality of leading an adventuresome lifestyle." Donna Keel Armer, author of Solo in Salento: A Memoir (Italian Translation: Un'Americana in Salento) and the Cat Gabbiano Mystery Seri...