Review
‘Out of the horrors of the past, the author has created a story that is epic in scope and emotion, but also brilliantly observant and truthful. It is surprising, moving and skilful.’
(Elizabeth Buchan )'Santa Montefiore brilliantly captures the intrigue and skulduggery of a country at war in a very absorbing romance.' (Red on LAST VOYAGE OF THE VALENTINA )
'Romantics will adore this story of yearning love.' (Daily Express on THE SWALLOW AND THE HUMMINGBIRD )
'Engaging and charming' (Penny Vincenzi, Mail on Sunday on THE BUTTERFLY BOX ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
‘Out of the horrors of the past, the author has created a story that is epic in scope and emotion, but also brilliantly observant and truthful. It is surprising, moving and skilful.’
(Elizabeth Buchan )‘Santa Montefiore’s world of Italian peasants and partisans, Nazis and aristocrats is flamboyant and suspenseful. Anyone who likes Joanna Harris or Mary Wesley will love Montefiore’s atmospheric fifth romance.’
(Mail on Sunday on Last Voyage of the Valentina )'Santa Montefiore brilliantly captures the intrigue and skulduggery of a country at war in a very absorbing romance.' (Red on Last Voyage of the Valentina )
‘Romantics will adore this story of yearning love.’
(Daily Express on The Swallow and the Hummingbird )'Engaging and charming'
(Penny Vincenzi, Mail on Sunday on The Butterfly Box )Product Description
Mischa knows what it is to be abandoned. His German father disappeared at the end of the war, leaving him and his mother to endure the hatred and contempt of all the French villagers, the two of them against the world. And his surrogate father vanishes too, with no word of explanation.
Mischa bears these scars into manhood. Only when his mother dies, revealing the existence of a priceless masterpiece, does he go on the trail of his own history. He makes a pilgrimage into the past, to that French village of his childhood, and there he uncovers the secret of the Gypsy Madonna.
Mischa bears these scars into manhood. Only when his mother dies, revealing the existence of a priceless masterpiece, does he go on the trail of his own history. He makes a pilgrimage into the past, to that French village of his childhood, and there he uncovers the secret of the Gypsy Madonna.
About the Author
Santa Montefiore was born in England in 1970 to an Anglo-Argentine mother, and read Spanish and Italian at Exeter University. After a year teaching English on an Argentine estancia, she spent much of the nineties in Buenos Aires. She lives in London with her husband, the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, and their children, Lily and Sasha. Visit Santa's website at www.santamontefiore.co.uk
