This was such an emotional book. A small town is dealing with modern problems while hanging on to traditions. In a town where a donkey can become the mayor, and tourists are still interested, there is a truffle that can change everyone's fortune. Tragedy or no? The drama is fun and the characters care enough about each other to look for the best. The narration is great, bringing out the drama and whimsy. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

After reading and loving hollow Kingdom, I was excited to dive into you another Keira Jane Buxton story - sadly this one just wasn’t for me.

I found myself immediately confused about the characters and the storyline. Was this about cats or people I couldn’t even tell. I only had an audio copy and found the storytelling somewhat confusing.

The narration read by Caroline Hewitt was compelling and did include a good variety of voices as she read the story and varied characters. Her pacing was well done, and it fit well with the narrative location of the rural village in Italy.

This reminded me of Japanese fiction where food is often described with emphasis. The truffle was definitely the main character with a delightful supporting cast.

Tartufo is a beautifully written novel about one of the many Tuscan mountain towns that is facing expensive, serious challenges as their way of life no longer appeals to the young citizens who have left and the ability to generate income is minimal as the population ages. And then, a lonely truffle hunter finds what may be the largest white truffle in ever found in the world. The novel has a slapstick feel quite often and I think that's why I put it down a lot because slapstick makes me nervous. The ways the truffle is in constant danger and the incredible cast of characters including the mayor, who is taking all steps she can to save the town. She barely won the office when she ran against an old donkey. There are family feuds, numerous dreams, a wacko priest outcasts, goats, a favorite cat, a former villager who took advantage of all he learned in the town to become a world famous chef. There are old decaying buildings full of history and old decaying people: same.

I found the novel slow at times but kept picking up my phone and listening some more to Carolyn Hewitt's exceptional narration complete with accents and voices that always pleased. Overall, the novel is something of a morality tale of the best kind. Of learning what was good all along even if there had never been a truffle. Of gaining sophistication and maintaining and improving relationships through the shared experience. Think of it: Truffles deteriorate in a very short time, so the need to move quickly and what it takes to make it happen is a mix of genius, reputation, luck and cooperation. I probably would rate this 3.5 stars but up to 4. I think this was personal and had to do with things that are less my thing than it might be for others. I would definitely recommend it and it did make my think of my trip to Tuscany many years ago with pleasure.

This was deliciously charming ! It's a delightful story of a community learning what's most important to them and it all starts with a giant truffle. The characters were great and I liked the pacing of the book even if the beginning was a tad slow. The descriptions of Italy and food were the perfection! I plan to read more by Kira Jane Buxton because of this book!

What a serious delight of a book! Stop me if I sound like SNL's Stefon, but THIS BOOK HAS EVERYTHING. It contains the most charming cast of characters, decadent food, lots of great humor, and the most gorgeous prose. Oh, and there's even a donkey who is very nearly nominated as mayor. Wait, there's also a female cat named Al Pacino. I told you- everything.

The book takes place in the struggling little Italian village of Lazzarini Boscarino. The town is not a tourist attraction and has no money.... a donkey almost became mayor, for goodness sake! But it's truly the residents that make the town. They may not always get along and they certainly don't agree on everything, but they so endearing.

The story starts off a little slowly for me, BUT I was pulled in by Buxton's writing from the first page. I figured even if the story was a little boring, at least I'd get to experience something really beautiful in the meantime. However, the story quickly picks up when Giovanni Scarpazza and his dogs find a really, really big truffle. Like the kind that could change the course of your life. Or the future of your town.

I don't want to give anything away because part of the beauty of the book is the unfolding of the story. Honestly, I feel like I'm not a good enough writer to truly describe the beauty of this novel. But even if you don't care about prose, you'll want to read it for the cast of characters.

I'm so excited for this book to publish and for everyone to read it. And I feel so lucky that I already had the chance to. It's the kind of book that, once it's released, I'll definitely want to read again. The people of Lazzarini Boscarino feel like friends now and I miss them so much now that the book is over.

Update: updating my review because NetGalley gave me the opportunity to listen to Tartufo on audiobook and it was also great! I really enjoyed the narrator, but do wish there was a bigger cast of characters narrating as I think it would have played really well to this book. Ultimately, for me, this book is a much better physical read than audiobook since I want to sit down and read those beautiful descriptions rather than listen to them. But I also think it's a fantastic audiobook!

To sum this up in one word, DELIGHTFUL. The story itself was so cozy and captivating but the narration really helps teleport you to this wacky Italian village. I can’t get over how charming and quirky this little gem was. I bought a print copy as well, but the audio kept calling me back. The first 1/3 was a little slow moving but it does help set the scene for the last 2/3 where the pace picks up. So stick it out! I wish it got a little weirder but I think that’s just personal preference and I saw a lot of potential. I want to live in this community where people can set differences aside and come together for the greater good, selflessly.

I did not get the chance to finish listening to this before it was archived. I will be borrowing it from my library and then updating my review

A fun and engaging audiobook through and through, thank you to the publisher Hachette Audio/Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Set in an idyllic and fantastical Italian town, Tartufo was a bright, humorous, and joyful novel to listen to, containing a surprising amount of depth and larger than life cast of characters.

I enjoyed the narration by Caroline Hewitt from start to finish. The only thing keeping this book from elevating to a 5-star read for me is the novel got a bit slow in the middle. I felt engaged still thanks to the imaginative writing and scenery being described in each page, but I found myself a time or two zoning out and wishing for a little more action. It was still a good listen with very dynamic characters, including perspectives from some of the animals living throughout the village.

I especially loved the storyline of the new mayor and the ending soared, leaving the book in a great place... but I could almost see a second novel or this one becoming a series, which I would definitely be interested in continuing to see what adventures the characters go on next.

This book published February 11, 2025 and I highly encourage anyone who enjoys audiobooks or is looking for a good one to try to give this book a chance.

Wow, I have never read this author before and I will absolutely be buying her other books. The sensory detail and imagery that she infuses into scene painting this little Italian village and the fantastic characters living in it really took me on a journey. Romance, humor, and little delights fill its pages and the narrator’s beautifully accented English was a real treat. Loved it!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc. The narration was well done. I love the Italian and accents. The storyline was really well told and I gave this a 4 stars.

At turns heartfelt and absurd, Tartufo is the story of one town, a mushroom, and the havoc that can come from worldwide attention. Every Character is so beautifully constructed and there were so many moments that I laughed out loud. In the end, you are rooting for every single person and hoping that they can all find a way back to themselves and each other.

My post-apocalyptic book club has read and enjoyed Kira Jane Buxton's Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures. Though this is not a post-apocalyptic novel, I still wanted to give it a try.

I'm not really sure what genre it would fit best into. The Hollow Kingdom series is xenofiction and while we do get a few animals narrating pieces of the stories (usually scenery or scene-setting such as the bee who narrators the activity at the castle during the festival prep) Tartufo isn't totally told from the point-of-view of a non-human. I really liked the animal characters and their observations. The puppy's zest for life always brought a little smile to my face. He might never be a great truffle hunter but he will provide plenty of entertainment.

I think it was going for humorous fiction and there were a couple of scenes that could be funny. Plus the whole plot revolves around a giant, stinky white truffle, which sounds comical. I think I laughed once, maybe twice - usually at a particularly witty piece of dialogue. There is a puppy too that provides some comic relief. But it isn't a laugh-a-minute type story - there are definitely some very serious moments.

The audiobook was well done. I enjoyed Caroline Hewitt's narration. She did well with the different characters.

I felt kind of sad for the town of Lazzarini Boscarino. You might have heard that you can buy a house in Italy for $1. I'm not sure if you could buy one for just a dollar, I do know that they really do a program that allows you to buy a house for really cheap as I had a friend buy a house for something like $10,000. The reason the houses are cheap is that most need work and the the towns are dying due to the aging population and lack of employment opportunities. The town in this book actually has a castle that the owners are willing to give away to anyone willing to restore it.

While Tartufo is not what I was expecting, I did enjoy listening to it. By the way, I looked up tarufo to see what it meant. It is an Italian recipes made with gelato. All Recipes has an easy recipe that uses ice cream that looks pretty easy if you like to pair a snack with your reading.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Wednesday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2025/02/tartufo-by-kira-jane-buxton-audiobook.html

I love Italy and have visited twice, so I enjoyed the idea of this small Tuscan village and the characters that make up the community. Parts of the story were drug out a little too much, but overall this was a fun, easy read.

Gosh, I hate writing this review. I LOVED Kira Jane Buxton's debut "Hollow Kingdom" so much. I pressed it into so many hands after finishing. I was thrilled to learn last fall that she had a new standalone novel coming out. I was lucky enough to snag an ALC via Netgalley and immediately dove in... only to be left wanting. I don't know if it was the narrator that didn't work for me or the book itself, but I am leaning mostly narrator. The voice just didn't match the narrative for me. However, I also felt as though there were far too many characters to juggle and keep track of, with some standing out more than others. I thoroughly enjoyed the truffle hunter and his dogs (Buxton writes outstanding animal characters), and the newly minted mayor, but others were hard to keep straight. Perhaps if I revisit this in print my opinion will change, as I've often read and enjoyed slice of life novels about similar small towns. For now, I am giving it 2.5 stars as it felt like I had to drag myself through it, but am reserving the right to change that upon a second reading!

Tartufo is a charming story of a Tuscan village's quest to sell a gigantic truffle to fund the repair of a beloved Nonna's home. It took me about a second to get into, around the 15% mark. The prose is very descriptive, often from the point of view of an animal or a fungal spore, and that did take getting used to. The characters are captivating, and I adored them early. The humor of this could be subtle at times, and then there were outright fart jokes. These characters are somehow both caricatures and simultaneously believable in their absurdity. A universally beloved donkey almost winning the election to be mayor just makes sense, as much so as the actual mayor regretting her decision to run in the first place. This is a feel-good, cozy story of love, truffles, and small town revival. I wholeheartedly recommend this one.
I both read the ebook and listened to the audiobook. There are a lot of Italian words sprinkled throughout the text. I read Italian a lot better than I understand it when spoken, so I enjoyed the ebook more at no fault of the narrator.
Thanks to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Hachette Audio for this delightful ARC!!!!

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced audio copy of Tartufo in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, so when I saw a new book from her I had to check it out.

What I liked:
-It was charming with lovable characters
-The voice given to the animal characters is utter perfection
-The audio narration was fantastic. I know I would have been mispronouncing most names and places, so the authentic Italian narration was 👌🏻

What I didn’t love:
-It wasn’t as LOL funny as Hollow Kingdom
-Character centric focus (vs plot) to start, which was harder to get into

I really wanted to love this one - the cover is gorgeous, the description sounds like so much fun, etc. etc., but the writing style just wasn't working for me. I had a hard time getting engaged, and I think, in part, the audio version + cast of characters at the beginning made it hard to figure out what was happening.

Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton is a fantastical, uproariously funny romp through a dying Italian village that feels both charming and absurd. The story follows the quirky residents of Lazzarini Boscarino, where nearly losing the mayoral election to a wildly popular, elderly donkey named Maurizio sets the stage for a series of delightfully bizarre events. Buxton paints a vivid picture of a town in decline—abandoned ristorantes, disgraced postmen, and a town hall overrun with misfortune—while the local hangout, Bar Celebrità, becomes the heart of the community.

The twist comes when truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza unearths a giant, otherworldly truffle that promises to either be the village’s greatest blessing or its worst curse, depending on an admittedly murky psychic reading. While the idea is delightfully offbeat and the ensemble cast of characters is as colorful as they come, there are a few hiccups along the way. Some plot elements feel a bit overcooked, but the overall blend of satire, whimsy, and heartfelt reflection on life's interconnectedness shines through.

A thoroughly entertaining read that left me smiling despite a couple of rough patches—definitely a 4-star adventure worth savoring.

A very fun and comical listen about a down on their luck Italian village and the events that ensue to try to turn it around! Definitely worth the fun listen with a chaotic and hilarious cast of characters