Coins in the Fountain
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley June 11, 2026
Author Written by Secondari, John H. Foreword by Secondari, Linda.
Distributor: Studiolo Secondari
ISBN: 979-8-9924478-0-4
Publisher: .Reprint 2026 Studiolo Secondari
Release Date: 26 May 2026
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First published in 1952 to a runaway success, Coins in the Fountain by John H Secondari went on to forever place the Trevi Fountain in the folkloric, minds and hearts of all the worlds romantic as a place where perhaps, wishes can come true.
Written for a post-World War II world where hope was beginning to grow, where Americans where flocking to Rome, the eternal City, to find love, hope and adventure, the novel is one based around just that, as it carefully captures the innermost desire to belong to someone or somewhere that is called home.
Commencing this step back to the Rome of 1950 the confronting fact that the Trevi Fountain is closed, empty of water, undergoing a cleaning is causing great consternation to patrons in the cafes facing onto the Fountain. Frank Bertin, a resident of Rome for many years, considers the Fountain is naked, almost tawdry; he is chatting with the old man overseeing the cleaning, who is disgusted with the lack of coins to be found.
Fred Shadwell arrives, a man who religiously comes to the fountain daily to throw his coins in hope of a miracle cure, a young American couple arrive, she believes, he is scornful, but who is to say that there is not something magical about the fountain, certainly not the people gathered there!
As the story delicately evolves it focuses on the changing of time, not just for the residents of Rome but for a group of young women working for the American Embassy as Secretaries, all hopeful of falling in love, Frank Bertin, head of the Continental News Bureau, facing stagnation, but unsure of where to go and what to do as he really does not wish to leave Rome, neither will his wife, Fred Shadwell, a man who’s book shot him to wealth but is in failing health, each one bringing the past era of the Eternal City alive to a new generation once again.
All these people, along with the tourists and others from far and wide, go to the Fountain, to throw a coin in hope that their dreams will come true, only to eventually realise that life, like so many things, is what you chose to make of it when change comes knocking at your door.
Secondari’s daughter Linda has reviewed gently this time old story now beautifully presented for the modern world of 2026, carefully detailing the world of Rome as it once was through the eyes of those who lived there in hope of finding love, happiness, acceptance and new beginning and in doing so learned much about themselves.
Coins in the Fountain was the inspiration for the award wining classic Three Coins in the Fountain released in 1954 and the Oscar wining song of the same name sung by Frank Sinatra.