The Befana Drama 2: Capriccia’s Conundrum Review
Reviewed by David Savage
The Befana Drama 2: Capriccia’s Conundrum by Gianna Hartwright is the second book in the Befana Drama trilogy and is another great adrenaline-filled, adventure story filled with witches, magic, elves, a reindeer whisperer, magical beings and creatures, a boy band and this time a theme park. Aimed at children from 9 years +, I personally, as an adult a long past 9, loved it.
If you haven’t read the first book – why not? You can read our reviews of it here. The Befana is a witch who is Italy’s Very Important Present Bringer, like Santa, and has to save her present bringing patch in Italy from being overtaken by Santa which results in her getting rid of Capriccia, Santa’s wife.
In the sequel Capriccia wants revenge on the now younger Bef.
Bef has regained her present bringing patch in Italy and is now more popular than ever and is now opening her own theme park; Befland, which aims to have the best and most exciting rides in the world.
Meanwhile while Bef is busy building her park with her friends and The Three Kings, a Duabai Boy Band, Capriccia teams up with Bernhardt Bürstenfrisür – The Most Fearsome Feller in Folklore and the hopscotch obsessed fairy Fiery Tina who also have centuries old grudges against Bef. They think that if they can get rid of Bef they can get their revenge and get their own present bringing patches and Capriccia can return to her pink monstrosity; the Casa of Contentments which houses her large collection of shoes, clothes and perfumes.
Now Capriccia is very dim and has to be trained in magic by Fiery Tina, as long as she can stop playing hopscotch long enough and manipulated by Bernhardt. They decide on a conundrum to destroy Bef and play a game where one-by-one the people Bef loves most are snatched and turned to stone – this is known as statuefication. This is all done in the hope that Bef will solve the final conundrum and be ruined.
Will Bef be able to stop these 3 enemies? Will Sly or Lars come to her rescue? Or will Bef turn to stone of turn back into the old haggard witch she once was? You will have to read the book to find out.
Overall, Capriccia’s Conundrum is an excellent, well-written story filled with brilliant characters like Bef, Bernhardt, Capriccia, Fiery Tina, Lars the Reindeer Whisper, Erik the Enraged, the Gnomes of Zurich and many more. All of the characters are beautifully described and add depth to the story.
I still haven’t decided if I prefer this book over the first one as they are both so good but I know I cannot wait for the third instalment.
A thrilling, magical adventure that travels the world (Italy, Germany, Lapland, Hollywood). Children, parents and adults will love the fantasy adventure. A great book for children to read by themselves or for parents to read to their children.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £7.99
The Befana Drama series is available to buy from Gianna Della Luna Publishing here.
