The Italian Villa: An emotional and absolutely gripping WW2 historical romance
Page 24
To have my story read and felt, by those of you who have followed me since Glen Avich times, to Seal Island, and now to the little Italian hamlet of Montevino, as well as by those of you who have only just discovered me, is a real privilege.
The Italian Villa is a new chapter for me, because while my previous books all took place in my adopted home, Scotland, where I lived for fifteen years, this is the first novel set in Northwest Italy, where I come from. The scenes set during the Second World War – Elisa’s story – have been drawn heavily from my own grandmother’s memories of that time; while the characters are imaginary, their adventures are very much inspired by reality. Montevino is based on the village of Caravino, a village of some 984 souls, where I now live. Here, everyone knows one other, the roads are dotted with shrines, and all is watched over by a castle. Oh, and the wine and chocolate are very real too!
I would love to know what you think of The Italian Villa, if you can take just a little more time to leave a review. I would also love you to reach out to me on Twitter or on Instagram. I always reply to my messages, because my readers’ voices are a precious and important part of what I do.
I hope you’ll follow Callie’s journey and her quest for family and home and that maybe you’ll walk part of her path beside her, if some of what she goes through resounds with you.
I hope that travelling back in time with Elisa, and observing her dedication to her work as a doctor inspires you as it inspired me.
Whether you’ve read this on a commute, on the beach, at the hairdresser’s, or in bed before falling asleep; whether it’s the first time you’ve explored a book of mine, or we’ve travelled together before, thank you for walking with me through the streets of Montevino.
Without you my world would be empty and my words silent.
Daniela
www.danielasacerdoti.com
The Lost Village
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1945: Two sisters give birth to two little girls on the same night, huddled under blankets, deep in the black woods that surround their village. They hold their babies close as footsteps approach. If they make even the slightest sound, the German soldiers will find them…
2006: Luce Nardini clutches a plane ticket to Italy in her trembling hands. Since her only child left home, and with her estranged husband more distant than ever, she’s been overwhelmed with loneliness. She never knew her father, or the reason why her mother cut all contact with her family in the little village of Bosconero. Lost and unravelling fast, uncovering her roots feels like Luce’s last and only hope.
As Luce searches the maze of cobbled streets, a house with a faded blue door draped in perfect white roses stops her in her tracks. Inside is the grandmother she never knew, who – with a longing look at an ornate wooden box on her nightstand – begins to tell the heart-wrenching story of a little village ravaged by war, and why Luce’s mother fled home and swore never to return.
Surrounded by new friends and faded frescoes of saints, Luce is just starting to feel like she belongs when the unthinkable happens: an earth-shattering disaster that shakes the little village of Bosconero to its core. Could it be that the secrets of Luce’s past have been buried forever?
Frightened, hopeless and feeling more alone than ever before, will the surprise arrival of the husband she thought she’d lost help sew Luce’s family back together, or tear it apart for good? One thing is certain: she must find the little wooden box amongst the rubble of the village and return it to her grandmother. But nothing will have prepared Luce for the devastating betrayal she finds inside…
An unputdownable historical romance about the secrets we keep to protect the ones we love by the author of million-copy Amazon No 1. bestseller, Watch Over Me. Perfect for anyone who loves Fiona Valpy, Lily Graham or The Letter by Kathryn Hughes.
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Keep You Safe
Seal Island Book 1
Buy here!
I Will Find You
Seal Island Book 2
Buy here!
Come Back to Me
Seal Island Book 3
Buy here!
Acknowledgments
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to my editor, Jessie Botterill, and everyone at Bookouture.
My heartfelt thanks go to the people of Caravino; to Ivana Fornera (Mum!); to my beautiful, kind and clever girlfriends, Francesca, Irene and Simona; to Cinzia Tarditi for the gift of music, to Serena Pacquola and her wisdom and knowledge; to Sasha, for being the cutest and sweetest companion that ever was.
And, as always, to Ross, Sorley and Luca: my SG-1!
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
Thank you.
*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Daniela Sacerdoti, 2020
Daniela Sacerdoti has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-009-5
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.