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Carlo Gesualdo, prince, composer and murderer has his wife and her lover killed in Naples in 1590. The wife’s maidservant,Laura Scala, witnesses the events and vowes to avenge her mistress.
The princess, Donna Maria d’Avalos, rescued Laura in Sicily after she had been raped at the age of thirteen. Laura devotes her life to her saviour and after the murders she spends years of her life trying to be revenged on the musical prince.
The scene moves from Sicily to Naples and Venice, back to Naples and finally to the New World. Laura believes she is carrying a curse. Everyone she becomes involved with appears to suffers misfortune and death.
A Jewish girl in the Venetian ghetto is kidnapped and sold into the Sultan’s harem, Laura’s daughter is placed in an orphanage without her knowledge, the artist Caravaggio uses Laura as a model and meets a tragic end.
Three beautiful pearls given to Laura by her mistress play a part in the story. Is Laura really cursed – or is it her connection with the murderous prince who dabbles in the occult?
A gypsy woman is burned at the stake, a Venetian gondolier meets a mysterious fate and Laura becomes a skilled herbalist and poisoner by default before the story ends in the New World. The background to these events is the strange and compelling music of Gesualdo.
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Q&A
– When and where do you prefer to write?
I generally like to work at my desk, but I can scribble in notebooks almost anywhere.
– Do you have a certain ritual?
Not really; just a bad habit of checking my email before I begin!
– Is there a drink of some food that keeps you company while you write?
The usual tea and coffee. How did Hemingway write anything when he drank alcohol all day?
What is your favourite book?
Impossible to choose just one, but Wuthering Heights was my favourite as a child.
– Do you consider writing a different genre in the future?
I’ve written in several genres already. I would like to write a hard-boiled crime novel.
– Do you sometimes base your characters on people you know?
I suppose I do at some level, but I try to disguise them.
– Do you take a notebook everywhere in order to write down ideas that pop up?
I try to do that -when I remember. Often, it’s just bits of paper.
– Which genre do you not like at all?
I don’t read much SF, and I hated the vogue for ‘misery’ memoirs.
– If you had the chance to co-write a book. Whom would it be with?
I can’t imagine writing with anyone else. We would come to blows!
– If you should travel to a foreign country to do research, which one would you chose and why?
I’ve been to many countries and written about them, but I’m always happiest researching in Italy.
Many thanks for inviting me on your blog.
Thank you, Fran Kempton and Rachel’s Random Resources
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About the author
Frances Kempton is a reclusive writer fleeing from the clutches of Jane Austen.
She has an obsession with Italy. This is the first book in an Italian trilogy
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Book Links
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devils-Tune-Italian-trilogy-ebook/dp/B07CQ8FDP3
US – https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Tune-Italian-trilogy-ebook/dp/B07CQ8FDP3
B for Bookreview 