Slightly Spooky: Several Short Stories Set on and Around the Italian Riviera

The three short stories in this book are all inspired by experiences that I have had while living in Ventimiglia Alta, a medieval village perched on a headland overlooking the western Italian Riviera and nearby French Cote d'Azur. Centuries Apart and A Grave Mistake may very loosely be described as [...]
Visa längre beskrivning

The three short stories in this book are all inspired by experiences that I have had while living in Ventimiglia Alta, a medieval village perched on a headland overlooking the western Italian Riviera and nearby French Cote d'Azur. Centuries Apart and A Grave Mistake may very loosely be described as gentle ghost stories. Re-Routed features specters of an entirely different sort. Terrifying, horrifying and frightening they most definitely are not. In Re-Routed, Centuries Apart and A Grave Mistake I will take you from the magnificent scenic railway line that links the mountainous Riviera hinterland to Northern Italy's fertile Po Valley plains; to the millenniums-old Roman road that crosses the world-famous Hanbury Botanic Gardens, and finally to a graveyard in a small French town just a few kilometers across the Italian-French border from Ventimiglia. Each story is accompanied by a short explanation which accurately places it in its historical and present-day context: if you have already visited this region you will recognize the places where I have set my stories: only the people, with the exception of Saint Catherine of Siena and Niccol Machiavelli, are fictitious. A map accompanies Re-Routed and the book ends with references to places mentioned in the stories. This small book is not only three slightly spooky short stories. The authenticity of each story's setting, the extra factual material and the links to useful sites make it a genuine mini-guide to the border region of the Italian-French Riviera and the Ventimiglia-Hanbury Botanic Gardens-Roya Valley-Alpes-Maritimes area. It is a perfect supplement to my e-book "How to explore Ventimiglia Alta on the Italian Riviera" and my paperback "Portraits of the Riviera" published by Penguin NZ and available on Amazon. I have been motivated to e-publish these stories by the recent closure of three of the tiny stations along the railway line between Ventimiglia and Cuneo: Bevera, Airole and Olivetta-San Michele. At the time of writing, the Giuseppe Biancheri Foundation is working with the railways and regional authorities to find a way to not only reopen these stations, but also to ensure that the line itself doesn't face closure. To this end, 50% of all royalties earned from the sale of this e-book during 2014 will be donated to the Giuseppe Biancheri Foundation.