The novella In A Dark Wood Wandering weaves two storylines through the modern day and early Renaissance Florence.
Leaving behind a depersonalised world, a young woman seeks a retreat in a convent in the hills above Florence. Here, she soon discovers, is an Irish Mother Superior with a Machiavellian agenda against a communist mayor and invading archeologists. She soon has 'la donna bella' helping exhume some old graves at the convent, some of which date back to early Renaissance time.
In one of the graves she unexpectedly finds the remains of a young woman of wealth, buried with her child - and someone else. This is the woman from the other storyline. A daughter of a newly-rich merchant and a greedy mother, she is unusual for her time in that her father has taught her to read. The day before her father finalises her arranged marriage, he takes to the Badia, to hear Boccaccio reading from the works of Dante. Whilst there, her life is irrevocably changed.
Through the interweaving of these worlds, both young women – unnamed throughout the novella -–learn not only how to lose loss but also that to be un-noticed is not synonymous with invisibility, or worthlessness. Both learn to see themselves.
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I peered around in the darkness. Neither the light of the stars, nor a streetlight, filled the blank void. I actually hadn’t rolled into the wall; I wasn’t even in bed. I’d hit the back of the couch — the short one.
As Caitlyn''s week of working nights draws to a close, she comes to question her belief that her past decisions have brought her to where she is; is she now too far along the her chosen road to have a choice? Or is it time itself which holds her prisoner in a place she no longer wishes to be.
The lift doors opened onto the tunnel. Like any entrance to hell, it smelt stale. Stale vomit, stale urine. Stale bodies, everywhere. A winter of rain couldn’t cleanse it. Tattered posters clung at odd places to the walls, reminding everyone to be alert, not alarmed. Despite two security guards sharing a smoke, the tunnel remained a perfect place for a murder.
Over the course of just one work shift, Caitlyn discovers it takes but a packet of Twisties, a ghost, and thoughts of a minotaur for her to break free.
Also available on Amazon (kindle or paperback)