Italy’s on everyone’s mind. The clock’s ticking. Got your copy yet? mybook.to/violinistsapprentice
- Callum Manning at 13 has been mercilessly taunted on Instagram by pupils for his online book reviews. However I was pleased to see that, after his sister tweeted about the incident, fellow authors have written many messages of support for him. Before the astronomical success of the Harry Potter books, reading by young people had slumped. But in the years after, reading of books like that has risen again. When I started writing The Violinist’s Apprentice, I wanted to follow in JKR’s success in writing an exciting series that the whole family would want to read. So, the stats below, taken today from the US Amazon site for The Violinist’s Apprentice, may be just a small step on the road but encouraging nonetheless. What ever your age, have you read my novel yet? Just click on the cover icon. Thank you!
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
- #637 in Historical Fantasy Fiction
- #170 in Historical Italian Fiction
- #542 in Historical Scottish Fiction
Parents of teens often bemoan: every book, TV drama and film these days is full of gratuitous violence and explicit sex. Where can you find an exciting novel with adventurous, historical scenes, innocent first love, lyrical descriptions of far-flung places but with no violence?
Let’s start the trend. 7 novels, 7 countries, 7 missing artefacts, one professor desperate to cure global warming. Transport yourself, first to Italy.
Exclusive. Here’s the latest professional Press Release, produced by PRforBooks. What do you think?
The Violinist’s Apprentice: Magic, Time Travel & Music Collide – in a Thrilling Timeslip Novel Hailed “Fascinating”
Isabella Mancini’s ‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’ forms part of an unforgettable seven-book series, as a naive young woman slips from the 21st Century to 17th Century Italy. Romance begins to blossom, but a tragic incident tears her between her growing feelings and the need to return to the present day to save her brother’s life. Few novels contain such a cocktail of themes including global warming, romance, magic and the ability to timeslip. One critic wrote, “…a fascinating original novel, laced with rich historical detail and 21st-century issues.”
Contact:
The author:
Email:olgaswan@hotmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
United Kingdom – It’s impossible to pigeon-hole Isabella Mancini’s latest novel into any single genre. It’s a fusion of fantasy, historical fiction, romance and a very real look at some of the present day’s most pressing issues.
It’s no wonder, then, that ‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’ has rapidly achieved such critical acclaim – as one young, impressionable woman transcends time, finds love and risks having to forfeit it all.
Synopsis:
A dark journey through time.
On a group trip to Rome, musician Clementina is whirled back in time to 17th century Italy.
Amidst court intrigue and creaking carriages, Italy becomes a chiaroscuro backdrop to her growing feelings for young violin-maker Antonio Stradivari. They kiss under an orange tree, and she persuades him to help a poor young boy from the nearby orphanage.
But people begin to notice just how ‘strange’ the young woman at the artist’s side 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?
“The story is definitely dark, raw and poses many uncomfortable questions to the reader,” explains the author. “This was all part of my masterplan to pen something that can stand as totally unique in the marketplace, and weave so many genres into a narrative that still makes sense. As mentioned, this is one of seven volumes – with each set in a different location around the world.”
Continuing, “It’s tough to write something that allows fantasy to stand directly alongside real-world societal issues, but I suppose I am one of the few brave enough to explore it. Reviews have been incredibly positive!”
Indeed, critics love the book. Lynn Pool comments, “My favourite aspect of this time-slip novel is when the story's based in Rome, simply because the plot's self-contained. The tentative relationship between Antonio and Tina and their innocent first love attraction highlight how differently such meetings were conducted in times gone by. Therefore, seeing 21st-century Tina through Antonio's 17th-century eyes is delightful.”
Jessica Belmont adds, “The Violinist’s Apprentice is a really interesting concept. I haven’t read a time slip novel in quite a bit of time and this was a good one to get me back in the genre. Isabella Mancini manages to take a lot of information and make it easy to follow.”
‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’, from Dark Stroke Books, is available now:
Amazon - https://amzn.to/2OsBVCc
About the Author:
Isabella Mancini, published by Dark Stroke Books, is the alter ego of prolific author Olga Swan (published by Crooked Cat Books.)
For many years she and her husband lived in S.W. France with their French rescue dog Bruno, before returning to the West Midlands. She has a BA Hons (Open) in the Humanities.
Blog: olgaswan.blogspot.com
Twitter: @isabellamanci10
Instagram: authormancini
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ManciniIsabella1/
The Violinist’s Apprentice: Magic, Time Travel & Music Collide – in a Thrilling Timeslip Novel Hailed “Fascinating”
Isabella Mancini’s ‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’ forms part of an unforgettable seven-book series, as a naive young woman slips from the 21st Century to 17th Century Italy. Romance begins to blossom, but a tragic incident tears her between her growing feelings and the need to return to the present day to save her brother’s life. Few novels contain such a cocktail of themes including global warming, romance, magic and the ability to timeslip. One critic wrote, “…a fascinating original novel, laced with rich historical detail and 21st-century issues.”
Contact:
The author:
Email:olgaswan@hotmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
United Kingdom – It’s impossible to pigeon-hole Isabella Mancini’s latest novel into any single genre. It’s a fusion of fantasy, historical fiction, romance and a very real look at some of the present day’s most pressing issues.
It’s no wonder, then, that ‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’ has rapidly achieved such critical acclaim – as one young, impressionable woman transcends time, finds love and risks having to forfeit it all.
Synopsis:
A dark journey through time.
On a group trip to Rome, musician Clementina is whirled back in time to 17th century Italy.
Amidst court intrigue and creaking carriages, Italy becomes a chiaroscuro backdrop to her growing feelings for young violin-maker Antonio Stradivari. They kiss under an orange tree, and she persuades him to help a poor young boy from the nearby orphanage.
But people begin to notice just how ‘strange’ the young woman at the artist’s side 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?
“The story is definitely dark, raw and poses many uncomfortable questions to the reader,” explains the author. “This was all part of my masterplan to pen something that can stand as totally unique in the marketplace, and weave so many genres into a narrative that still makes sense. As mentioned, this is one of seven volumes – with each set in a different location around the world.”
Continuing, “It’s tough to write something that allows fantasy to stand directly alongside real-world societal issues, but I suppose I am one of the few brave enough to explore it. Reviews have been incredibly positive!”
Indeed, critics love the book. Lynn Pool comments, “My favourite aspect of this time-slip novel is when the story's based in Rome, simply because the plot's self-contained. The tentative relationship between Antonio and Tina and their innocent first love attraction highlight how differently such meetings were conducted in times gone by. Therefore, seeing 21st-century Tina through Antonio's 17th-century eyes is delightful.”
Jessica Belmont adds, “The Violinist’s Apprentice is a really interesting concept. I haven’t read a time slip novel in quite a bit of time and this was a good one to get me back in the genre. Isabella Mancini manages to take a lot of information and make it easy to follow.”
‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’, from Dark Stroke Books, is available now:
Amazon - https://amzn.to/2OsBVCc
About the Author:
Isabella Mancini, published by Dark Stroke Books, is the alter ego of prolific author Olga Swan (published by Crooked Cat Books.)
For many years she and her husband lived in S.W. France with their French rescue dog Bruno, before returning to the West Midlands. She has a BA Hons (Open) in the Humanities.
Blog: olgaswan.blogspot.com
Twitter: @isabellamanci10
Instagram: authormancini
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ManciniIsabella1/
Two different blogger reviews:
An interesting, different perspective from blogger Ellesea loves reading blog:
“Clementina (Tina) McBride is sceptical about going on a school trip to Rome. She doesn't want to leave her sick brother behind but is pursued by her Italian mother to accept the chance to visit the country of her birth. Strangely, before going on her adventure she's given an amulet by her teacher Mr Verdigris to wear at all time especially during the trip… what does this mean?
Captivating, I adored Clementina's time in 17th-century Rome. The author's paints a vivid picture of the Italian city at the time as I learned about young Antonio Stradivari. As someone familiar with the city, I appreciate the depth of detail Ms Mancini put into the narrative and finished this novel more knowledgeable than before.
My favourite aspect of this time-slip novel is when the story's based in Rome, simply because the plot's self-contained. The tentative relationship between Antonio and Tina, their innocent first love attraction highlights how differently such meetings were conducted in times gone by. Therefore, seeing 21st-century Tina through Antonio's 17th-century eyes is delightful..
Overall..a fascinating original novel, laced with rich historical detail and 21st century issues”.
***arc generously received courtesy of Darkstroke/Crooked Cat Books via Rachel's Random Resources***
Thank you Just4mybooks:
“...The time slip back to the 17th Century gave way to some gorgeous descriptions of Italy at that time, and Clementina’s confusion and comparisons to her own life were endearing and often funny. The relationship between Tina and Antonio Stradivari developed nicely, despite their different life experience, and had she stayed it would no doubt have led to a romance. I almost wanted her to stay there, the atmosphere of those times was so vividly brought to life. At the same time, I was keen for her to return home to tell her brother all about the trip. Having lost his sight, Tina brought colour to his world. Little did she know that her father and brother, Andrea, were having an adventure of their own.
This story lends itself well to a series as more challenges await. A teacher – Mr Verdegris – gives Clementina a pendant to be used whenever she feels she is in trouble, it will summon the teacher to her immediately while she is in the other time dimension. There she is tasked with finding and bringing back a genuine Stradivarius violin. Prior to Clementina’s quest, her school friend Ruby had been tasked to find the Dead Sea Scrolls, and another girl, Saffron, is destined for the next mission. But who is the intended recipient of these items? Well, running alongside Tina’s story, a professor waits in the Arctic to hear of her success or failure. This subplot delves into the topic of climate change, but as to the full reason behind the girls’ time travel, that was never really clear to me – maybe that becomes more obvious in the next book.
The magical elements of the story, the pendant, the time travel, and the backstory of Ruby’s prior challenge, made for interesting reading, and the author did a good job in depicting an authentic image of 17th Century Rome. Not the story I expected, but enjoyable for the time travel aspect and the location.”
—-An interesting, different perspective from blogger Ellesea loves reading blog:
“Clementina (Tina) McBride is sceptical about going on a school trip to Rome. She doesn't want to leave her sick brother behind but is pursued by her Italian mother to accept the chance to visit the country of her birth. Strangely, before going on her adventure she's given an amulet by her teacher Mr Verdigris to wear at all time especially during the trip… what does this mean?
Captivating, I adored Clementina's time in 17th-century Rome. The author's paints a vivid picture of the Italian city at the time as I learned about young Antonio Stradivari. As someone familiar with the city, I appreciate the depth of detail Ms Mancini put into the narrative and finished this novel more knowledgeable than before.
My favourite aspect of this time-slip novel is when the story's based in Rome, simply because the plot's self-contained. The tentative relationship between Antonio and Tina, their innocent first love attraction highlights how differently such meetings were conducted in times gone by. Therefore, seeing 21st-century Tina through Antonio's 17th-century eyes is delightful..
Overall..a fascinating original novel, laced with rich historical detail and 21st century issues”.
***arc generously received courtesy of Darkstroke/Crooked Cat Books via Rachel's Random Resources***
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