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THE
CILENTO DOVE
by BRENDA PARKER
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Set
partly on the Dorset and Somerset border and partly in Venice, spanning
the years between the outbreak of World War
II and
November 1963, THE CILENTO DOVE is a deeply intriguing story
drawn against a
background of two of the century’s great historical dates. It tells of two women, a
generation apart,
whose parallel lives unexpectedly begin to converge as the stories of
their
loves past and present unfold. While
Grace remembers her own grand but ill-starred romance in pre-war
Venice, her
goddaughter Annie appears to be reliving that same dream a quarter of a
century
later with a charismatic painter of murals. At
first it is welcomed, but gradually the similarities take on a more
ominous guise. Moreover the gift of a little glass bird from Murano
stretches
the bounds of credibility beyond mere coincidence, and
it appears that the
heartbreak of 1939 is about to repeat itself.
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Price: £9.99 | Softback
| ISBN-13: 978-1-908274-25-0
| Book Dimensions: 210×148 mm
| Publication
Date: 22 Oct
eBook | ePub edition:
978-1-908274-27-4 | kindle edition:
978-1-908274-26-7 | Price: £4.99
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INTERVIEW
Brenda was interviewed by
Jenny Devitt on Abbey 104 Radio
Friday,
4 April, 9:00 AM.
https://abbey104.com/show/jam-and-toast
Download and read the first chapter of
THE CILENTO DOVE here
.
THE CILENTO DOVE is available on Amazon
Brenda
Parker |
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EVENTS WATERSTONES in Yeovil
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| Saturday,
9th August 2014, from 11am — 1pm |  |  |
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ WINSTONE'S
Bookshop
8 Cheap Street, Sherborne, Dorset
DT9 3PX
Thursday, 28 November at 7.00pm
A seated event with wine and
canapés
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sunday, 20th October, 10.30am-2.00pm
Meet Brenda Parker at the
Sherborne
Literary Festival
A Talk and Book signing
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From CHAPTER ONE
 She
had once been told that the best way to see Venice for the first time
was from
the sea – and now, half a lifetime later, she watched again as it rose
from the
waves like Aphrodite. Slowly it
surfaced, each moment another brush stroke on a broad canvas, teasing
the
imagination before its final revelation as the most legendary prospect
in the
world. Grace drew a deep breath and
closed her eyes for a moment. Of course
the world at large had changed greatly over the years. She had
changed also – no longer the giddy
girl of before. But this special place
had not. It was all breathtakingly
familiar - the scene just as cool and calm as then, with outlines
softened by
pure turquoise light, and the sea reflecting the colours of the city in
shifting shades of rose and aquamarine. Not Canaletto’s
Venice,
but Monet’s. And beside her, leaning on the rusty rail of the
old
ferry, was Annie,
her eyes bright with anticipation. Grace touched her hand and
smiled in response. ‘Happy Birthday!’
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 Brenda Parker
enjoyed an early career in London,
where she was a Production Assistant with one of the new ITV companies
as part
of a production team, based in Kingsway and transmitting from Wembley
Studios.
It was a brief, but significant experience, only curtailed when
marriage drew
her north to Northumberland. But with her went the irresistible
creative
atmosphere of Television House, contrasting so graphically with the
windswept
landscape and border legends of her new home that writing fiction was
almost
inevitable.
But it was a
sea-change for one born and brought up
in Bexhill on the Sussex coast, with its formal grammar school and
gentile
atmosphere, where theatre, music and the arts flourished and centred on
the
iconic DelaWarr Pavilion. Life in the north could not have provided a
greater
contrast. But they were wonderful and momentous years - with the
raising of a
family, the witnessing of great social upheavals in the North-east of
England,
of seeing how the Parker family’s catering company adopted and adapted
to these
changes, until finally it relocated in the South West.
With the family
now grown up, Brenda also became
absorbed in its running, of the family business and it is only since
retirement
that she has returned to the typewriter. And, paradoxically, it is
under the
thatched eaves of an old Somerset cottage she published her
Northumbrian novel Anya
Paris and now her second The Cilento Dove.
Visit Brenda Parker's website here
Brenda
Parker on Goodreads
Brenda
Parker's Facebook page here
on
Twitter here
THE
CILENTO DOVE by BRENDA
PARKER
Brenda
Parker THE CILENTO DOVE Full cover layout
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Five Star reviews on
Amazon
5 star customer review
on Amazon UK: Great feel good novel 17 July 2014
"Wonderful depiction of Venice, great
characters and a great twist in the tale. Would thoroughly recommend this book
and couldn't put it down."
5 star
customer review on Amazon UK:
Easy Reading, lovely romantic story 30 April
2014
"I just loved this book, easy to read with a
beautiful story. Read whilst on holiday, and couldn't put it down."
5 star customer review on
Amazon UK: A
true Venetian romance Feb
2014
THE CILENTO DOVE is a true
holiday
romance in both senses of the term. The plot of the book turns on two
seminal
holidays spent in Venice - one on the brink of World War II, the other
in the
early sixties, shortly before the assassination of JFK. A now elderly
and
infirm Grace returns to sixties Venice for the holiday of a lifetime,
decades
after her own unrequited but defining love story with a cultured but
philandering Venetian. She is accompanied by her adopted niece Annie,
already
in a relationship, who is surprised to find herself embarking on a
romance of
her own, meeting a mysterious Englishman with close personal and
business
connections to Venice. As she returns to her family in Dorset and
embarks on a
career in television, Annie finds herself more and more inwardly out of
step
with the direction her life is taking. The mystery and drama
surrounding the
Cilento dove build to a rewarding conclusion. Although not usually a
fan of romantic
fiction, I found Cilento Dove intriguing and satisfying. The great
delight of
the book is the way Brenda Parker evokes the atmosphere and magic of
Venice and
the sensual and emotional delights of its culture. Greatly to be
recommended!
5
star customer review on Amazon US:
Beautifully written historical! Feb 2014
This is such a well-written
book.
I'd like to say it's quiet but it has such heart, you just can't. You
know from
the moment you read the first few pages that you're being set up for a
wonderful tale that spans the years and the lives of two women. The
societal
references of the time are so well done that you always feel like
you're right
in the historical period itself. I can only imagine the research the
author did
for this novel.
Brenda
Parker has penned a wonderful historical novel, suspenseful drama that
keeps
you turning the page. I would recommend this book to any reader of
historical
fiction.
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THE CILENTO DOVE: Ten
draft covers rejected in favour of the final choice
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