I made 2 promises to my wife Gio before her untimely death in 2019. The first one I should have made a long time ago, and that was to learn the Italian language. Gio (Giuseppina) was Italian and I would hear the language spoken whenever she met with her family or when we went on holiday to Italy. Listening, I could follow most conversations, or at least understand what was being discussed… or argued about. Actually I am still never sure that when Italians are in conversation whether they are discussing something or arguing, it’s hard to tell. However, my ability to join in any conversation in Italian was very limited, I didn’t have the necessary vocabulary or know how to construct a sentence properly.
We had discussed the possibility of maybe retiring in Italy, or even buying a small place where we could spend our holidays. This would require me to obtain an Italian passport, something I was entitled to as I was married to an Italian citizen. To achieve Italian citizenship it is a requirement to understand and speak the Italian language to level B1 as defined by the Common European Framework, which doesn’t sound unreasonable, but as I am no longer married to an Italian citizen these rules no longer apply to me.
But I made her a promise… and a promise is a promise. Therefore, my first promise is to obtain a B1 Italian language certificate.
The second promise I made was to write a second book. It was whilst we were on holiday in France, working on a novel that we had been writing together that we made plans for a follow up.
I self-published “Tell Me Your Sweet Lies,” the novel we had been writing whilst we were in France, in 2020 in Gio’s memory with all proceeds donated the Thrombosis UK.
Tell Me Your Sweet Lies is a romantic thriller, and as the main protagonist is a woman called Rebecca, whilst I came up with the plot and story-line I remember Gio telling me that she would be responsible for writing Rebecca’s thoughts and feelings as only a woman would know these things.
I always thought that I had rushed to publish the book, for obvious reasons, and that I could have benefitted from a professional review before releasing it for publication. So this book is not currently available to purchase and is now with a professional editor so that issue 2 can be released soon.
In the mean time I am in the planning stages for a follow on novel, this time featuring a minor character from the first book, in a novel with the working title of “The Other Woman.” I will be posting regular updates on my progress.
