Book Tour: Day 4 and 5
On Day 4 of my book tour I stopped off at Tea leaves and Book leaves, where I received a lovely review from Emma, which you can read here
Day 5 was busy. My visit to Pickled Thoughts and Pinot resulted in another lovely review. Thank you.
My favourite line was
Quirky, often sweary, highly amusing and yet at times quite reflective and serious, this book ticks plenty of boxes.
You can read the full review here.
Joanne’s review, like many others I received, spoke about the setting for my story – Rome during a sweltering summer. Joanne, who had visited Rome before enjoyed being taken back to the streets of Trastavere. For those of you who haven’t visited, Trastevere is a neighbourhood in Rome just south of the Tevere river. It’s full of small, winding cobbled paths, houses painted the colours of Autumn and little bars and restaurants which teem with people in the evenings. I spent a lot of time there while I was living in Italy – especially eating takeaway pizza on the fountain steps in the ancient Santa Maria square.
A lot of research went into The Starling Dance. I was living in Rome when I thought of the idea for the story, and after a year of exploring, I came to know the city very well. The places described are all depicted from my memories of being there. People have described the book as a ‘love letter to Rome’, which I really wanted it to be because, to me, it’s such a magical city. The Starling Dance was first conceived as a film and I’m delighted when readers’ comments indicate that the visual impact and energy of a sun-baked Rome, with its stunning architecture and colourful people has translated to print.
Fittingly, my final stop was at Sarandipity’s where Sara featured an extract from The Starling Dance (Chapter 3: I’ve Been Watching You).
In this extract, the reader is introduced to Trastevere, where our main female character Laure lives, as she heads to her local coffee shop before work. While pining for her boyfriend, Davide, who has suddenly stopped replying to her messages, Laure fails to notice that someone is watching her.
You can read the extract on Sara’s blog.