#jerry junior

It's a book from the early 1900's about some rich Americans travelling in Italy. A young man, Jerry, is very bored while waiting for his family to catch up with him in a particular village. He hears of a young American woman staying nearby so he goes to make her acquaintance but she's very rude to him. So when he hears she and her family are looking for a local guide for going mountain climbing, whose main qualifications are to be looking picturesque and wearing earrings, he disguises himself and takes this role. Mild hijinks ensue.

Both main characters come across as thoughtless, rude, and self-centred, and not even in an interesting way, and I didn't care a bit about either of them. The Italian hotelier who Jerry spends a lot of time talking to is the only other character with significant page time, but his is a very one-note characterization.