An original and young archaeologist specialising in ancient art is the principal character in a series of fresh, lively novels that take place in radiant Sicily and flow seamlessly between past and present, mystery and ancient history.

Isabella De Clio is earnest, meticulous, honest, very knowledgeable, beautiful and strong-willed. She has however one defect: Isabella is a kleptomaniac who constantly feels the urge to steel objects that represent memories for her.
An authority on cameos, she ends up working with a charming police inspector on an investigation into the murder of an elderly lady with an apparent connection to a precious gem of the Augustan Age. It turns out to have been a wedding present to the Emperor Octavian from his child bride, which ended up in the hands of the murdered woman in order to keep her from revealing an uncomfortable truth.

pp.310

While doing some research, Isabella unearths a manuscript dating back to the 1st century BC. It gives a new version of the battle of Lipari, during which three ships sank in the Tyrrhenian Sea while trying to defend a precious cargo. Isabella is curious and discovers that two Roman relics have in fact been found and that during the recovery operations, Carla Sollini, an expert diver, died in mysterious circumstances. As for the phantom cargo, there is no trace of it: could it be that the unpublished manuscript is unreliable? Or that the sea has since destroyed everything?

pp.380

Work is the only thing that distracts Isabella from it is a recent, oppressive feeling of loneliness. Fortunately, there is a new mystery about to take her mind off her love life. The recent discovery of papyri attributed to Archimedes prompts her to consult the important Medieval codex rescriptus, long considered to be no more than a prayer book, but which actually conceals many surprises. Isabella will therefore find herself untangling a web which, on one hand, involves the famous Ancient Syracuse scientist and, on the other hand, an inestimable treasure, as well as mysterious deaths and schemes that are way beyond her. It is thanks to this risky investigation, however, that Isabella will discover that she is not as alone as she thinks…

pp.272

A prophetic book.  A brave writer determined to track it down.

An adventure suspended between reality and legend.

English sample available

Jerusalem. In the Year of Our Lord, the prophetess Anna gives the world a book destined to change its destiny. Many centuries later, the story of this book is stumbled upon by Margherita Mori, a successful writer suffering from hypermnesia, a memory condition that makes her remember every single detail of her life, even the most painful ones. Margherita has recently written an adventure novel in which she tells the story of an apocalyptic book protected by seven iron seals and which, if found, could alter the destiny of the world. From the outset, Margherita’s book draws a bizarre kind of attention, including from Father Costarelli, a Jesuit who issues an urgent invitation to the seminary where he lives. Two days later, the man dies in suspicious circumstances, making Margherita wonder if the documents she had consulted in order to write her novel may not be so far-fetched after all.

 

pp.304

English sample available

Set in a Sicily devastated by war, this is a polyphonic novel that slowly unfolds and reveals the love, intrigues, courage and hope of a family from whom history has snatched everything.

 

Catania, 1943. When war comes knocking at your door, it never seems as bad as you expected. At least that’s what Vittorio Floridia thinks the day after a bombing destroys his house and any hope of returning to normality. In an attempt to save his family from the grip of fear and hunger, he agrees to move in with the pharmacist Luigi Villalba, his late best friend’s brother. And so in this large country house, standing in the shade of a large carob tree, we get to know the members of a family like so many others, and yet different from all of them. Luca, with black curls and an impudent manner, is getting ready to fight a war his father has long stopped approving of. Elena, sweet and compliant, already feels like a woman at sixteen, but is still a child in everyone else’s eyes. Little Michele, slight and silent, risks losing his life after being wounded in the bombing. Then there’s Agata, now Vittorio’s wife, but for ever the love of Luigi’s life and his great regret.

pp.352

English sample available

The story of a woman in search of redemption against the backdrop of the zealous scientific work of the famous Via Panisperna Boys.

1930s. Ida knows only too well that Rome’s Royal Physics Institute in Via Panisperna is a special place. Since she has worked there her life has changed. In its lecture theatres, she has acquired notions of Physics from the best scholars and met a group of young Italian scientists – the Via Panisperna Boys – whose studies have led to the creation of the atom bomb. They include the brilliant Ettore Majorana, with whom she has become friends, and Alberto, the love of her life. However, everything suddenly changes. Her father picks a husband for her and there’s nothing left for her to do but comply with his demands.

Meanwhile. the group of young scientists break up and Ettore Majorana mysteriously disappears. It’s the end of an era.

Italy, 1954. Ida decides to leave her home after her husband confesses that another woman is expecting his child. She is determined to find Alberto and, in order to do so, she must first locate her friend Ettore Majorana, hoping he is still alive and simply chose to change his path because his scientific research was becoming dangerous.

pp.250