At 11 am, from our doorsteps and gardens, the nation will hold two minutes’ silence to mark the 75th anniversary of VE day today. Then we’ll sing We’ll Meet Again. For most reading this, those events in Europe happened before they were born. How important is it to look back in history? Can we learn from it and, thereby, improve our lives today?
When I wrote The Violinist’s Apprentice under the pen name Isabella Mancini, I was fascinated by the notion of going back in time and meeting someone who plucked at our heart strings so much that he’s still noted today. I wanted to explore how we, our language, our clothes and such technology as an iphone, might be received by an earlier European culture. Similarly, what would a young modern person make of the way of life back then? In my story, the tall girl who arrives in 17th century Italy, dressed in torn jeans, is initially taken for a boy. Here’s a description of what happened:
“A dark journey through time
On a group trip to Rome, musician Clementina is whirled back in time to 17th century Rome. Amidst court intrigue and creaking carriages, Italy becomes a chiaroscuro backdrop to her growing feelings for young violin-maker Antonio Stradivari. But people begin to notice just how ‘strange’ this young woman is. She must be a witch. Meanwhile, in present day Scotland, her brother suffers a life-threatening accident, and in an icy corner of the Arctic, a professor frets about global warming. Can Clementina find a way to return to the 21st century again?”
It’s interesting that, since the beginning of time, when confronted by someone ‘strange’, people react with evil intent. Why must those who are so brilliant as to invent something new or to have the prescience to help mankind always be threatened with death by the common populace? Surely such innovators should be lauded!
Grab your copy here: mybook.to/violinistsapprentice
Thank you everyone for taking this seven day literary journey with me, and thanks too to my publishers Crooked Cat/Dark Stroke Books for making it possible. Hope you’ve all enjoyed it. It would be great to read your review(s) of my books on Amazon. But, above all else on this special day in Europe - we’ll meet again!
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