An absolutely charming story starring a hilarious and energetic cast of characters – and seriously, they are CHARACTERS – full of heart and love for each other, food, animals, and their Italian village. The village has no money, but clearly it is rich in other ways.

Kira Jane Buxton is a brilliant writer, weaving vivid descriptions of nature into each chapter that kept me totally entranced while still moving forward a plot that had me on the edge of my seat many times. There were many gasps and chuckles too. A completely fun and truly beautiful read.

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing for this ARC. This is one I am certain I will read again.

Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton is a recommended farcical tale tale, highly for the right reader, involving a giant truffle. The rural Tuscan village of Lazzarini Boscarin is in decline when local truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza finds a giant truffle, un tartufo. The worth of truffle has the power to change the course of the village by both helping the citizens and revive interest in visiting it. A large cast of colorful characters from the village come to life in this over-the-top humorous novel.

It is helpful that the cast of characters are listed at the beginning of the narrative so readers can follow who everyone is and all the connections between them. Honestly, there are almost too many characters, all of the quirky but not all of them play an essential role in the novel. Some of this unrestrained writing style is also found in the excessive descriptive passages. At first I appreciated it, until it began to grate and got in the way of actually telling the story and slowed the pace and my appreciation of the novel down.

There is an interesting story woven in all the excesses, which made it an average okay novel for me. Perhaps those who like the author's writing style will appreciate Tartufo more. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

A very charming book!

It takes a while to get into, because the writing style is so different, so the first ~15-20% felt like a bit of a slog. Still, the writing grew on me, and in the end I think it suited the story quite well. The story of this giant truffle--the Tartufo--is told via the perspectives of the inhabitants of the town in which it was found. It's written in the third person, but each chapter focuses on a different person (or sometimes people). While you do get to know a few characters a little more intimately, like Giovanni, Delizia, and Giuseppina, this isn't the story of any given character. It's the story of the town, Lazzarini Boscarino, and I think the way it was written does a really good job of getting you acquainted with the entire town. By the end of the novel, I knew enough of the town gossip that I felt I could practically live in Lazzarini Boscarino myself. The few characters Buxton does put more of a focus on are all incredibly interesting and well written, and really help you better understand the human microcosms within the macrocosm that is the town (I know that my phrasing there was really weird, but if you read the book you'll get it, OK!?). I think the comedy in this book was also (surprisingly) pretty strong. I wouldn't call it a "funny" book, but it's definitely written with a more comical tone, and I think that tone does a lot to add to the warmth and humanity of this novel. Still, the comedy never detracts from the more serious, tender moments, and some scenes really plucked at my heartstrings.

This book does drop a fair amount of Italian around, which makes sense, given that it is set in Italy. However, I've heard that sometimes reading books that randomly throw around a second language sometimes make the speakers of that language feel a little disconcerted. So. If you speak Italian, uh. maybe skip this one if you're one of those people?

Overall, I think this book is really, really strong. It feels very... human. Not perfect, but it's got a bunch of tender, soulful moments. Plus it kind of made me want to move to a small, struggling town in the Italian countryside. Huh.

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. I found the writing stilted and uninteresting. Thank you for the opportunity.

Tartufo is a delightful mix of truffle documentary, cultural commentary, and Italian soap opera. It’s funny and rich, deep and thoughtful. I was more drawn in by the conversations and interactions of the villagers than the anthropomorphic animals and insects. The creatures acted as segues and good vehicles for describing the countryside, but became predictable breaks in an otherwise moving story.

The story revolves around Mayor Delizia Miccuci and the small village of Lazzarini Boscarino. Their little town has few visitors but that is about to change.

Local truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza has just found the mother of all truffles or tartufo.
Cast of characters, including a cat named Al Pacino make this a fun read.

I requested this book after having enjoyed Kira Jane Buxton's quirky and fun Hollow KIngdom. LIke Hollow Kingdom, this novel is really out there with the zaniness, so be prepared. Unlike Hollow Kingdom, this one is a slower burn and takes a minute to get into. Her writing style is very distinctive and fans will enjoy this latest installment. But, if you're new to Buxton, I would recommend trying Hollow Kingdom as a first read.

A different kind of story filled with quirky characters is set in a small Tuscany town. The residents have seen the younger generation leaving, and the local businesses closing. When Giovanni, a truffle hunter, finds an enormous white truffle, the Mayor of the town, Delizia, sees an opportunity toy to raise money for the town. There are some funny moments, some heartwarming, with extensive descriptions of nature and the environment. I liked it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Tartufo is a light read about an aging Italian town who are gifted with a truffle that can change their fate. Based on the premise, I was hoping for a quirky and fun story, but it got bogged down with a few too many characters and a slow start.

This is a sweet story about a community banding together to lift each other up. The small, rural Italian village of Lazzarini Boscarino is in a financial crisis. The newly elected Mayor Delizia, who just eeked out a victory over a donkey named Maurizio, has uncovered the crisis - but it is local truffle hunter Giovanni who stumbles upon the village's saving grace (or curse in disguise) - a gigantic, pungent truffle.

The best part about this book is the quirky, loveable villagers and their relationships with one another. Seeing them bicker, banter, and lift each other up was so sweet.

The writing was extremely descriptive, with lots of tangents into the lives of the villagers or detailed descriptions of the scene settings. The Italian words, foods, smells, flowers, all had a cinematic and immersive effect - but it did sometimes go overboard, making the pacing feel off and creating some passages that were dense and hard to get through.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC to read and review

A large cast of characters, including several animals, come together to save a faltering community with the help of an enormous truffle. Florid prose and outrageous characters make this good for fans of charming fiction.

I absolutely LOVED Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures by this author and was so excited to receive an ARC of her new novel (thank you, NetGalley and Grand Central). I was a little concerned about the book description, however. It sounded awfully cozy for an author who wrote an extremely snarky, apocalyptic book about a domesticated crow named Shit Turd. Well, I didn't get very far into this one before I gave up. I was drowning in alliterative adjectives (sigh, I couldn't help it). The chapters are long and, at least in the beginning of the book, they are filled with endless, overdone descriptions about everything. EVERYTHING. I couldn't see the forest through all of the overly described trees and knew this book wasn't for me. I don't mind a cozy novel, but I have my limits. I'm giving this 2 stars despite not finishing it, mostly because there is a female cat named Al Pacino (which seems to be the only reminder of Buxton's signature snark).

I really enjoyed the concept of this book and the cast of town characters was cute and memorable. I did feel like the author’s humor didn’t always resonate. The jokes felt forced at times. There were also several occasions where way too many examples were given in a description. Overall, 3.5 stars.

This was an odd and delightful book. The sense of setting — a remote, medieval Italian village — was so strong from the beginning and let me really sink into the story. It follows an odd cast of characters that live there; they all felt like real people with backstories and intersecting lives. It felt less like reading a book and more like genuinely visiting this village and meeting these people. The book was literary leaning but with genuine humor that made it a quick read.

I was recommended Hollow Kingdom by a bookseller in a small independent bookstore in Connecticut back in 2019 and was instantly hooked on Kira Jane Buxton's writing style. Tartufo is heartwarming and hilarious. It is dramatically comedic insight into a very small town filled with relationships between people fraught with history. The thing that Kira Jane Buxton does exceptionally is tying in a POV from an animal/insect at key moments that give the feel of a birds-eye overview of the ongoings as an outsider looking in. Each of the characters are easy to love despite their faults but no one holds a candle to Giuseppina. She is chaotic, passionate, at times poignant, and really drove the story for me. The drama with the truffle provides comedic relief but the hearts of the story are the relationships and accepting and/or meeting people as/where they are. Tartufo does not disappoint. I will absolutely be recommending this to everyone!

I was so excited to start this book after reading great reviews on Netgalley but after multiiple tries to start this story, I was just unable to get into it and was unable to finish it. This has nothing to do with the writer/writing themselves, as the prose was interesting and the cast of characters showed promise, it just wasn't for me.

This book was such an unexpected delight! I have not read anything by Kira Jane Buxton before, so I was not expecting a lighthearted, extremely funny read. This is a cozy, sweet, and uplifting story about a small, broke village in Italy that has a chance at a second life when the world's largest truffle is discovered in their woods (by an adorable truffle sniffing dog - this book has fantastic animal characters, including a cat named Al Pacino, and a donkey who narrowly just lost the election for mayor!)

With an eclectic cast of characters, genre-defying and expert world-building, and truly laugh out loud moments, I was so taken with the book as a whole. It's making me want to read the rest of Buxton's novels, which I hear are also incredible. Also, don't read this book if you are hungry. I'm seriously considering heading over to Shake Shack this afternoon to have one of their limited time truffle burgers because I have to remember exactly how truffles taste after an entire book describing how amazing they are!

I think this will be a great book club book next year, and it just the kind of book we need for tumultuous times. It's sweet, endearing, warm, and funny. Five easy stars.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in return for my honest review. I loved Buxton’s Hollow Kingdom series and attribute it to being the very reason I began my reading renaissance this past year. So you can imagine I was delighted to hear she was going to produce a new standalone novel. However, Tartufo really falls flat for me. The writing is quite flowery (which is fine if you can make it comedic), and Buxton can really succeed with this but I found myself shaking my head at her jokes and cringing a lot of the time. The plot is reaaaaaaaallly stretched out and nothing quite exciting happens until the auction. I am fond of Buxton’s writing style in Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures but it just doesn’t work here and I can’t quite put my finger on why not! This was a huge miss for me and I feel quite downtrodden for having such high expectations. Also, the author made some American mistakes writing in Italy: she references using $s instead of euros. And in the scene where they celebrate the donkey’s 21st birthday they mention he can now drink legally which in America is 21 but in Italy is 18.

I really wanted to love this book. Italy is my second home so I was excited to read about a dying old town be saved. Unfortunately I just couldn't finish this... after having 4 incredibly detailed paragraphs about an ants POV.. I just had to stop. This book is far to detailed and is very slow paced. I'll try to revisit it another time.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc.

I received a copy for review purposes. All opinions are honest and mine alone.


With an abundance of alliteration, vocabulary to stump Webster and descriptions that rival “saying yes or no in 500 words or more”, TARTUFO tested my patience as a reader.

Introducing characters and the dying town of Lazzarina Boscarino take up the first half of this painfully slow moving novel. There is so much detail it would have been helpful to have a score card only I was glazed over and really didn’t care about most of the people. It was nearly 200 pages before author, Kira Jane Buxton, shares what a TARTUFO is and why it’s important. The expression “hurry up and wait” has never been so real.

In fairness, the second half does move somewhat better with more action and characters rising to a place I cared about them. The story still feels too long, like Buxton had a page or word count she needed to achieve. I kept wondering where the heck was her editor?

If you’re a fan of highly detailed prose, extremely quirky characters and the ever popular HEA, this book might be perfect for you. For added fun, the animals are really entertaining and the cover is gorgeous📚

Read and reviewed from a NetGalley eARC, with thanks