I was interviewed by Susan Heads about That Summer in Puglia, for the Authors on Location section of The Book Trail. Susan’s questions were thought-provoking:
What made you want to write this story?
Why did you decide to place the action where you did?
How do you research a novel such as this?
Why is the story important – its message?
The story of young love is difficult – a kind of modern-day Romeo and Juliet. Which stories of young love like this have you seen?
Who would play your characters in a movie of the book?
Something you found surprising whilst researching the novel?
Can you tell us more about Puglia and your own experiences of it?
What you see on my blog post are just a couple of excerpts. You can find the full text of the interview by clicking here.
Susan Heads’ enthusiastic review of the novel is here, where you’ll find also an online guide The Book Trail has begun creating to the real-life places in That Summer in Puglia.
“With beautiful descriptions and well-developed rich characters, Valeria Vescina takes us on a moving journey through Tommaso’s life. That Summer in Puglia is a brilliantly written, poignant, thought-provoking character-driven story about young love, loss, grief, family and second chances. An absolutely wonderful debut.”
Thank you, Eva Merckx, for your amazing review of That Summer in Puglia!
I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for That Summer in Puglia by Valeria Vescina and sharing my review of this intense and powerful love story.
Thank you to Aimee at Bookollective for inviting me to join the tour.
About the Book
Tommaso has escaped discovery for thirty years but a young private investigator, Will, has tracked him down.
Tommaso asks him to pretend never to have found him. To persuade Will, Tommaso recounts the story of his life and his great love. In the process, he comes to recognise his true role in the events which unfolded, and the legacy of unresolved grief.
Now he’s being presented with a second chance – but is he ready to pay the price it exacts?
Today I had the wonderful surprise of a review of That Summer in Puglia by video. It comes from the fabulous literary blogger Claire Lyons and you can watch it on her website, Mrs. Average Evaluates, by clicking here.
Some excerpts from the video-review of the novel:
“So carefully written and incredibly evocative.”
“A very passionate book.”
“Shakespearean mix-ups and misunderstandings and lack of communication…”
“…and it’s about youth, and about parenting, and about loss… It’s a super book.”
“I’d love you to read this. It’s a beautiful, beautiful book.”
I’m grateful to Claire Lyons for her warm, powerful words.
A beautiful review of That Summer in Puglia. My thanks to reviewer Ann Marie of NYC-based Lit Wit Wine Dine for communicating with such clarity and warmth her perceptive reading of the novel.
Below are images of short extracts of the review. I encourage you to click here to access the full article on this excellent literary blog site.
Author Valeria Vescina and interviewer Teresa Franco
That Summer in Puglia had its debut at the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival on 23 March. This was Italian Day, when the Festival – in co-operation with the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute – annually showcases Italian culture. My interviewer at St. Cross College was University of Oxford academic and Il Sole 24 Ore Arts & Culture contributor Teresa Franco – sensitive, knowledgeable and insightful. We were introduced by poet Todd Swift, Director of Eyewear Publishing. The audience was large, warm and engaging.
Publisher Todd Swift introducing author Valeria Vescina and interviewer Teresa Franco
Oxford Literary Festival – Valeria Vescina and Teresa Franco
The day closed with a memorable Italian Gala Dinner at Lincoln College, hosted by the Director of the Festival, the College Rector and the Italian Embassy. The latter was represented by Minister Counselor Vincenzo Celeste and Head of Culture Federico Bianchi, both of whom had attended the launch of That Summer in Puglia, an honour for which I’m grateful. The Gala Dinner menu was devised by acclaimed chef and cookery writer Eleonora Galasso.
I wrote That Summer in Puglia in English, my literary mother tongue, but the story is set mostly in Puglia (southern Italy), where I was born and grew up. I was educated in Switzerland and the UK, and today live and work in London, but I’ve spent the holidays with family in my native region every year.
Puglia offered an ideal setting: its visible layers of history are integral to the story, a man’s excavation of his past. The region’s distinctive culture provided a framework for testing the characters and exploring the main themes: the role of all forms of love in human life; and the relationship between love and virtue.
I also hope the novel will help readers discover the cultural richness and variety within Southern Italy, by immersing them in an authentically Apulian atmosphere. In Puglia, traces of the past surface in unexpected ways: from the art of its early, Hellenised Illyrian settlers, to Byzantine paintings, Norman churches, and the palaces and fortifications built under the Anjou, the Aragonese, the Venetians and the Spanish. The region’s cuisine and inhabitants bear living testimony to the passage of all these cultures.
Blackwell’s bookshelves at the Oxford Literary Festival
‘That Summer in Puglia’ on Blackwell’s Oxford Literary Festival display
The moment of That Summer in Puglia’s debut is also one of gratitude for and to all those who have sustained me throughout the process of writing the novel: family, friends, colleagues, teachers… and the authors and publisher who have encouraged and championed my work. To you all, my deepest thanks. A book about the importance of all forms of love would not have been possible without you.
Press enquiries: please email publicist Helen McCusker, Booked PR (tel: +44 (0) 7951 078388), or you may contact me here.
About the Book
Valeria Vescina 