Victoria Smith is a former marketing executive who gave up her comfortable Chicago life for the romantic dream of moving to Tuscany with her husband. Typically undaunted, Victoria was one of the first women marketing executives at Procter & Gamble in the early 1970s, a senior vice president with DDB Needham international advertising agency during the 1980s, director of volunteers at a large church in the 1990s, and single mom with two daughters for most of her career. Yet her confidence and self-esteem were rocked by the unexpected challenges of living in a foreign culture and the stresses it placed on their marriage. Determined and learning along the way, she and Larry forged a new Italian life and fell more in love than ever.

Victoria’s writing is honest and vulnerable, as if a story told to a trusted friend. A relentless optimist, she tries to face each situation in The Little Lark Still Sings with truth and grace, reflecting on whatever comes along and drawing lessons to apply to herself, making them available to and relevant for her readers.

Today, Victoria and Larry are fully engaged in their hilltown community. They zip up narrow steep roads, press their own olive oil, host friends and family, cook with natural, fresh ingredients, and are inspired every day by Italy’s dolce vita.