Lead Review – plus Emylia Hall talks about her research of setting
- Book: The Thousand Lights Hotel
- Location: Elba
- Author: Emylia Hall
Every year on July 14 the Legend of Innamorata is celebrated in Capoliveril, lights, drums and festivities line the processional route. The festival is said to date back to the 1500s and tells of the ill-fated love between Lorenzo and Maria…
Wonderful to see publication of this novel to coincide with the annual Innamorate festival that takes place every year on Elba.
Kit has grown up with her mother in England (now living in Bristol), having never known her Italian father. She has learned to bite her tongue about her Italian heritage, and soon it is too late to find out more when her mother passes away, leaving Kit, in her late 20s, with only a name to go on. But it is an unusual name, and without difficulty she tracks her biological farther to a beautiful hotel – The Thousand Lights Hotel – on Elba.
The author is very good at going through the what-ifs of making contact, even HOW to make contact. Would it be a brave thing to do? Or foolish? The uncertainties of descending on her father out of the blue could have colossal consequences for both her and any family he might have. Her mother had one very scant version of events, her father would undoubtedly have another. How do you go on to handle such a situation, do you let sleeping dogs lie or do you stir up the hornet’s nest?
Kit chooses to go to Elba and as an experienced travel writer can appear at her father’s hotel with a convincing cover, giving her ample to time to assess the situation before potentially diving in. She is picked up on her way to the hotel by the handsome Oliviero, who happens to be the chef at the hotel (there is some delicious-sounding food served up at the hotel). Her father, Valentino, and Oliviero seem particularly close and her suspicions about their family ties grow. To find out how she handles the situation and what the consequences are for her, you will need to buy the book….
The story, as it unfolds is one of tentative discovery and how major loss and difficult histories can converge to form new and perhaps unexpected outcomes. It is poignant, it feels real. The gentle exploration of familial ties is all set against the beautifully perched Thousand Lights Hotel, which overlooks the lustrous Mediterranean. Elba is beautifully rendered, you will want to visit after reading this novel.
Click HERE to find out more about Emylia’s research of setting!
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