The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace

Dreamy and imaginative, Wallace's debut is as luxurious as fine chocolate, its sensual details transporting readers to early 19th-century Italy, and its timeless message of love and triumph in the face of disappointment and frailty enduring long after its final, satisfying pages have been turned. As her wedding day approaches, Carolina realizes that her eyesight is fading at an alarming rate. Neither her dashing fiancé, Pietro, nor her parents take her seriously when she informs them of her rapidly narrowing world. The one person who believes her is a frivolous dreamer with a scandalous reputation, Turri. A charismatic young inventor who lives nearby, he is clearly smitten with Carolina. In desperation, Carolina turns to Turri, meeting him secretly at her private lake house, picturing in her mind the fanciful drawings from the books he has given her, which she can no longer see. Turri's love is the wings on which Carolina's imagination soars, and their bond is sealed when he presents her with a "writing machine" — an invention she can use despite her blindness. Loosely based on the true story of a 19th-century inventor, The Blind Contessa's New Machine is as elegant and lyrical as it is original and quirky. Drawing on a fairy-tale tone and setting, Wallace delivers a love story freed from the shackles of sight, a modern invention of her own.