And I for sure am intrigued by this book!

Synopsis

Apennine Mountains, Italy, 1965

Leonora Bacchetti was once a happy child. But at the age of seventeen she has become a wild and rebellious young woman who leaves her parents in despair when she runs away from home with a group of itinerant travellers.

In the eyes of their friends and neighbours in the tight-knit village of Montacciolo, her parents’ good name is ruined.

At first, Leonora keeps in touch with her mother and father, sending letters and postcards from different countries until, very abruptly, her correspondence stops. The girl has vanished.

Vague, unreliable rumours of her fate abound, but newspaper appeals, police and private investigations reveal nothing.

Until, eighteen years later, in the midst of a snowstorm, a stranger from Sardinia knocks on the door of Leonora’s father’s little mountain house.

Now a widower, he has come to terms with never knowing what happened to his daughter. But everything changes when the unexpected visitor claims that he has new information.

The two men quickly bond and gradually begin to piece together the truth about Lenora, provoking deep questions about her life and how they have lived their own – questions about love, loyalty, honesty and what being a family really means.

The Sardinian Story is a novel of exquisite power and deep emotion which will live long in the memories of its readers.

Guest Post

In October 2021 I made the decision to leave the security of my life, job and home in England and to move to Italy, the country of my birth, to write full time. To some it seemed a rash decision, but it was not made lightly. I thought about it for a whole day, and by the end of that week, most of my possessions were packed and anything which was surplus to requirement was listed on Gumtree. Within a month, my husband and I were on the road to Italy and driving towards a new adventure and a new way of life – fingers crossed it would all work out! 

The house we were moving to was built by my great grandfather. It was a house I had known during my childhood and the very place which had provided the backdrop of the PARADISO novels. What better place could there be to continue writing the series, surrounded by the Lombardy landscape, the people, the local stories and legends? I sat at my desk, steeped in inspiration, and let the creativity flow. 

Did I look out of my window and describe the rich,agricultural Lombardy Plain, with its endless fields and vast, dramatic skies? Did I turn my new friends and neighbours into characters for the next PARADISO novel? Well, yes…in part. I did indeed throw myself into the third book of the series, DAUGHTER OF PARADISO, but half way through my creative attention was distracted and at greater speed than I thought possible, I wrote a novel set in the Apennine Mountains and Sardinia about the disappearance of a girl.  

The process of writing THE SARDINIAN STORY was not in any way planned, and this was a wholly new experience for me. My previous books had been organised, with plots and timelines set out on spreadsheets. There was no such preparation for THE SARDINIAN STORY. All I had was the germ of an idea in my mind and an obsessive compulsion to write about it. The characters were born on the page as the story developed. Even naming them was a serendipitous process. As I was trying to find a name for one particular character, from outside I heard a neighbour call for his dog, Dante; thus one of the book’s protagonists was christened ‘Dante’. Every day, words poured out of me and new chapterstook shape. I had no idea exactly how the story would conclude. I just kept writing, trusting that it would find its way.

The first eighty percent of the book was written in eight weeks. My working day began the moment the first cup of coffee kicked in, and I would hammer away at the keyboard for hours, until my brain was scrambled and my eyes were aflame. I never wanted that creative high to end. Everything else became secondary. The house was a mess. The garden was a wilderness. My husband was showing signs of neglect. But all that could be remedied in good time. I just had to keep writing. 

Bringing THE SARDINIAN STORY to a satisfactory conclusion was the first problem I encountered, not because of a lack of ideas, more owing to a glut of them, but finally, after almost five months of writing and editing, the book was complete. 

Whilst I was in the midst of my writing frenzy, it did not cross my mind that there were parallels between the spur of the moment decision to change life, profession and country and the creation of THE SARDINIAN STORY. In both cases, caution was thrown to the wind and I tore headlong into what felt right. Fingers crossed it will all work out.