Book Title:  Waking Isabella: Because beauty can’t sleep forever by Melissa Muldoon
Category:  Adult Fiction,  250  pages
Genre: General Fiction
Publisher:  Matta Press
Release date:  December 2017
Content Rating: PG-13 + M (The story begins with violent rape and murder scene, touches on themes of miscarriage, murder, Nazi violence during war, adultery)
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Synopsis

Waking Isabella is a story about uncovering hidden beauty that, over time, has been lost, erased, or suppressed. It also weaves together several love stories as well as a few mysteries. Nora, an assistant researcher, is a catalyst for resolving the puzzle of a painting that has been missing for decades. Set in Arezzo, a small Tuscan town, the plot unfolds against the backdrop of the city’s antique trade and the fanfare and pageantry of its medieval jousting festival. While filming a documentary about Isabella de’ Medici—the Renaissance princess who was murdered by her husband—Nora begins to connect with the lives of two remarkable women from the past. Unraveling the stories of Isabella, the daughter of a fifteenth-century Tuscan duke, and Margherita, a young girl trying to survive the war in Nazi-occupied Italy, Nora begins to question the choices that have shaped her own life up to this point. As she does, hidden beauty is awakened deep inside of her, and she discovers the keys to her creativity and happiness. It is a story of love and deceit, forgeries and masterpieces—all held together by the allure and intrigue of a beautiful Tuscan ghost.

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Book Trailer

Guest Post

Arezzo’s famous Jousting Festival

 

Ciao a tutti!

I am the author of “Dreaming Sophia” and “Waking Isabella.” I am also the “Studentessa Matta.” In Italian that means “crazy student.” For the past seven years, I have been writing a dual language blog in Italian and English to promote the study of the Italian language and culture. My journey to learn the language has brought me even closer to a country that I have now adopted. The friendships I have made and the experiences I have had of living and traveling in Italy have given me insight into so many wonderful stories, traditions, and cultural ambiguities that many people have never even heard of. It has also given me opportunities I never thought imaginable, like zip lining in the Basilicata, taking part in the jousting festival in Arezzo, attending a friend’s wedding in Naples, even meeting Miss Sophia Loren in person!

In my books, I strive to weave together a bit of the Italian language as well as art history. I want people to be inspired to learn the language and realize that art can “talk” to you if you listen. My novels are set in modern times, but they also take the reader back into the past to get a feeling for Italian personalities from previous eras. The stories weave together historical and contemporary information, as well as a bit fantasy and time travel as well.

My current book “Waking Isabella”  is set in the small Tuscan town of Arezzo. Today I’d like to tell you a little bit more about the city as well as its jousting festival.

The joust —  in Italian la giostra — is a festival specific to Arezzo that harkens back to the medieval ages when local Arentino men prepared themselves for battle against the infidels who reached as far as Arezzo during the middle ages. There are four neighborhoods — quartieri — in Arezzo that participate in the competition, and throughout the days leading up to the event there is much fanfare and pomp and circumstance and the city is completely taken over by jousting fever. All through the streets and around every corner you can hear the beating of drums, the firing of canons, and the blaring of trumpets. People are dressed in medieval costume, and they parade through the town and the “sbandietori” — the flag throwers — can be seen tossing their banners high into the air.

On the day of the competition, jousters dressed in brightly colored costumes and wielding long heavy lances, charge across the Piazza Grande on horseback aiming at a target called a Burato. The object of the game is to pierce the scorecard held by the wooden dummy — who represents the King of the Indies — directly in the center of the target. There are two horsemen from each of the competing neighborhoods: Porta Santo Spirito, Porta Sant’Andrea, Porta Crucifera and Porta del Foro.

I have participated in the jousting festival twice now and will return again this year in June and September. I watch the jousting games  from the stadium seats constructed in Piazza Grande. The proceedings are well documented by photographers and television crews from Arezzo TV and Teletruria TV, as much as any sporting event featured on ESPN in the States. It is a big deal, to be sure. The day after this year’s joust I was surprised to learn that my friend Luca who lives in Arezzo, had seen me in the crowded stands as he watched the event from the comfort of his living room couch!

Because the school that I work with to organize my language immersion programs is located in the Santo Spirito neighborhood, I have become a fan of the Blue and Yellow team. The neighborhood slogan is “con antico ardore” — with ancient ardor. It seems appropriate because taking part in this festival is a thrilling thing for sure. Something within me responds the pounding of the “tamburi,” and all the colorful pageantry as if I had lived in Arezzo in a previous life and something or someone is calling me back home.

I invite you all to put Arezzo on your list of towns you must see in Italy! Not only is there the joust to entertain you, but every first Sunday of the month the city holds its famous antique fair. It is also a center for gold jewelry making and the site where Roberto Benigni’s movie “Life is Beautiful,” was filmed.

I will be returning to Arezzo this coming September. If you too would like to work on your Italian and immerse in language and culture, I invite you also to come along with me on my next trip. There are more details on my website “Studentessa Matta,” a dual language blog that I write in Italian and English. There are also many tips to help you learn the language!

Alla prossima! Melissa

Here is a Youtube video I made about the Joust