I’m happy to welcome author Kate Bristow. Today, Kate shares interesting facts about her writing journey and her new release, Saving Madonna.

Interview

What was your inspiration for this book?

Many years ago when visiting the Rocca, a fortress in the small hilltop town of Sassocorvaro, Le Marche, I came across the story of Pasquale Rotondi, a museum director who saved thousands of works of art in Italy during WW2. Not many tourists visit this part of central Italy and I realized that very few people knew about the secret, dangerous work undertaken by the Italians living under German occupation to save so many priceless paintings from being stolen by the invaders. I knew then that one day I would share this story with the wider world.

Describe your writing space.

I live in a small three-bedroom one story house in Los Angeles with my older daughter. I converted the front bedroom into a small office, and I sit at my desk facing the street outside. I love seeing my neighbors going about their daily lives, walking dogs, taking their children to school and back again, riding bikes and scooters and generally enjoying the California sunshine.

Which authors have inspired you?

As a child, my favorite author was J.R.R.Tolkein. I was amazed that one man could create such a rich world filled with so many memorable characters and places. I think I have read ‘Lord of the Rings’ at least eight times – it is that good! Barbara Kingsolver is a writer who manages to produce incredible stories about varied topics – because of her writing, I have become engrossed in subjects as disparate as the migration of the monarch butterflies and missionaries in the Belgian Congo.

What is your favorite quote?

I have a few! But I am particularly partial to Sylvia Plath’s line, ‘The only quiet woman is a dead one.’ I celebrate all women who challenge the status quo and who fight for equality in any form. My heroine Elena has to overcome a number of preconceived ideas about what a young Italian woman in 1943 should be doing with her life.

Besides writing and reading, what are some of your hobbies?

I am lucky enough to live close to the marina in Los Angeles and my favorite activity is rowing in a single scull. There is nothing like being on the open water at dawn with only the occasional sealion for company.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Start writing, finish one draft of your story, take a few days off and then go back to the beginning. I spent so long being concerned about the quality of my writing that I was too afraid to even start. Once I began to get the story down on paper, I thought that it had to be perfect from the beginning. It doesn’t. After several drafts and feedback from editors and people I trust, the final book is so much better than I could have imagined.

What are you working on next?

I would love to tell more stories from Urbino. The one I am most excited about concerns Nicola da Urbino, the renowned ceramicist known as the ‘Raphael of maiolica painting’, and Isabella d’Este, one of the most powerful influential art collectors of the Renaissance. I am currently in the research phase but I can sense there is a fascinating story to share.

Blurb

Inspired by real events, an unforgettable story of love, courage and sacrifice to save a country’s heritage.

Italy 1943. As the Allies bomb Milan, Elena Marchetti reluctantly gives up her coveted job as an art curator in the city to return to her family farm near Urbino. She takes up a new role assisting Pasquale Rotondi, the Superintendent of Arts in the region, in protecting works of art from all over Italy that have been hidden in the relative safety of the countryside.

At a family celebration, Elena reunites with Luca, a close childhood friend. A shattering event instigated by the occupying Germans deepens their relationship, and they start planning a life together. When rumors surface that Italy’s art is being stolen by the German occupiers, Pasquale hatches an audacious plan to rescue the priceless paintings in his possession. Elena and Luca are forced to make an impossible decision: will they embark on a dangerous mission to save Italy’s cultural heritage?

Excerpt

“I don’t want tonight to be over!”

Elena’s younger sister, Giulia, was twirling around their bedroom in her linen nightgown, her brown hair loose around her shoulders. Elena, already tucked up in their shared bed, smiled indulgently as she watched her sister dance to some imaginary tune with an imaginary partner.

“It was a real party, wasn’t it, Elena? I wish we hadn’t left—I wanted to squeeze every last drop out of it.” She stopped dancing, her face flushed, and skipped toward the bed, launching herself onto the covers beside Elena. Giulia sat cross-legged and looked at her sister. “It’s different for you,” she said, pouting a little. “You must have had so many chances to dance in Milan. All those parties and boys! And I was just stuck here, doing nothing fun, ever. When is this stupid war going to be over?”

Elena wanted to laugh at the angry expression on Giulia’s face. Instead, she took her sister’s hands in hers. “You’re sixteen, and there’s time, I promise you. When this is all over, I’ll take you to Milan myself. You can meet all the boys—or men—you want.”

Author Bio and Links

Kate Bristow was born in London. She fell in love with reading when she got her first library card at the age of four. Her first attempt at writing and publishing for a wide audience was a local newspaper typed laboriously at home on her mother’s typewriter while at primary (elementary) school in north London. It is surely a loss to cutting-edge journalism that only one issue was ever produced. Kate divides her time between her small-but-perfectly-formed modern home in Los Angeles and her five-hundred-year-old farmhouse just outside Sassocorvaro in Italy.

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Giveaway

Kate Bristow will be awarding a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

Follow Kate on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.