World War Two gunner uncle inspires Ferring author Angela

southern Italy

The Postcard from Italy has been published by Bookouture (available from Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play etc).

Angela, aged 70, explains: “Tragically, Uncle Billy was shot down over what was then called Yugoslavia. He and his crew were on a mission to drop supplies and arms to partisans.

“In my book he survives but suffers from amnesia. When his memory returns, he discovers that his life is more complicated than he knew. His other life remains a secret until discovered years later by his granddaughter. Puglia is a magnificent region and my four earlier novels were set in Tuscany. I was ready to move on, especially as my uncle had been based there.

“My parents married during the war. I was born seven years after the end of the war and so I feel this period is only a fingertip away from my own life.

“War has its repercussions and my parents’ generation did not talk about their tragedies. But, in writing my historical novels, I am always conscious that the past is the counterweight to our future. That we should learn about the past in order not to repeat the mistakes. My head is full of the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine. It seems we still haven’t learnt the lessons.”

Angela added: “The Postcard from Italy opens with a young man waking up inside a trullo, a conical-shape, stone building typically found in the southern region of Puglia.

“He is injured and an old man and a young boy are tending to him in their simple home. It becomes apparent that he has lost his memory. He doesn’t even realise that there is a war going on.

“Occasionally he has frustrating flashbacks to what might have been his life before his accident. The book examines what happens when he eventually discovers that he has a past. A past that will lead to further complications.

“I loved writing the story and doing the research. It is a story of war but the themes of self-discovery and courage are intertwined with two love stories. So far, the reviews are very good, which is very satisfying. And it reached number one in two of its categories on Amazon, so I am delighted.

“The Postcard from Italy is stand-alone but I am contracted to write two further books set in Italy during World War Two. The next one should come out in spring 2023 and will be set in the city of Urbino, my Italian mother-in-law’s home city and where my husband and I married.

“Her father worked as registrar at the town hall and forged the city’s census, thereby saving the lives of Jews in Urbino. I want to include his story. There are so many accounts of this period that will be lost in time if we don’t record them. Stories that need to be told.

“The Postcard from Italy is my sixth published novel.

“Five have been published by Bookouture (the first two were initially self published) and they are all set in Italy, a country I know well. I lived there as a child, studied Italian at university and married a wonderful half-Italian boy, whom I met in Sicily.

“The sixth book is completely different: set in Worthington-on-Sea and featuring two eccentric ladies of a certain age who get up to mischief (unwittingly). All proceeds from the sales of this gently humorous novella go towards research into cancer. I wrote in in memory of a dear friend who died from ovarian cancer. We all have dear ones lost to this awful disease.”

“I’ve always written poetry and stories. But I wrote (and self-published) my first book, The Tuscan Secret, for my Italian mother-in-law when I was sixty. Mamma was a teenager during the war and lived in Urbino under occupation. She told me many stories and I felt compelled to include them in a novel. She met and fell in love with a British army captain (my husband’s father) and that fascinated me – how they courted at a time when he had to drive through enemy territory to visit her, avoiding land mines and snipers. Where we live in Tuscany is situated along the Gothic Line (a defensive barrier constructed by the Germans to prevent the northern advance of the allies). I combined this local history with Giuseppina’s own story. Sadly, she is now suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s but she was able to enjoy reading what she told me felt like reading her own story.”