Michelle Damiani

The Silent Madonna Lib/E Michelle Damiani

A ruined castle. A town picking up the pieces. And a mysterious stranger who could change everything.

The fire may be out, but smoke and suspicion still linger in Santa Lucia. Though the townspeople still gather for espresso at the town café and swap recipes at the butcher shop, their iridescent blue sky is clouded by a veil of uncertainty and mistrust. The statue of the Madonna, set in a wall outside the café, watches it all in collected silence.

But when New Yorker Alessandro arrives to claim his inheritance--the derelict castle and the charred olive trees that surround it--it unearths secrets thought long buried. His renovation plans set off a chain reaction of dangerous relationships and forbidden romance while exposing explosive truths--not just for himself, but for all the people who call this village home.

Can the power of the Madonna save Alessandro and the villagers? Or will the truths brought to the surface trap Santa Lucia in an inescapable web of deceit and anger?