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Silvertail has signed two books in a new series by builder and author Francesca Scanacapra based on true stories told by her Italian family, set in locations where she spent much of her childhood.
Publisher Humfrey Hunter bought world rights from the author and will publish Paradiso on 8th May in paperback and e-book. Return to Paradiso will follow later this year. Translation rights are being handled by the Lorella Bella Literary Agency.
Paradiso is billed as “a deeply affecting novel which sheds light on the complexity and trauma of Italy’s past and weaves it into the epic tale of an ordinary woman compelled to live in extraordinary times”.
The synopsis states: “Italy, 1937. In a tiny village in rural Lombardy, Graziella Ponti is born into a loving family. Though they are not rich and life is full of challenges, they are content and safe, surrounded by the tightly-knit community of Pieve Santa Clara. But when the shadow of World War Two falls across the village with the arrival of Nazi soldiers, nothing in young Graziella’s life will ever be the same again. Paradiso is Graziella’s story. It charts her loves, losses and triumphs as she grows up in post-war Italy, a country in transformation, freed from the shackles of dictatorship yet still gripped by the restraints of the Catholic church.”
Scanacapra was born in Italy to an English mother and Italian father, and her childhood was spent living between England and Italy. She has pursued an eclectic mixture of career paths, including working as a technical translator between Italian, English, Spanish and French, a gym owner in Spain, an estate agent in France, a property developer in France and Senegal, and a teacher. She lives in Dorset and currently works as a builder with her husband.