Why write a biography? It only pins you down. Suffice to say I was born in Africa. And already that’s seeing the world without its skin. My father was the local gynaecologist. My mother was born in Strasbourg. My grandmother lived with us. In many ways I loved my childhood, but not in others. I would have been cheating myself if I hadn’t left to study English literature in Britain. That was my feat of daring that altered the landscape of my life. Before the term started, I went to Paris, like all would-be artists and authors. It was spring. I was full of day-dreams, imagining myself capable of extraordinary insights and creativity. It was a time when everything seemed possible. I could laugh at it now, but it propelled me to develop some of those qualities. In Paris, I fell in love and got engaged, but in the bleak, cold winter of my first term at Edinburgh, I broke it off. I got a First class MA Honours and the Janet Christie Bequest to study abroad. So, I drove to Florence with a friend and lived in an old farmhouse for 8 months, learning Italian, studying at the British Institute. In the slipstream of my life I imagined that I would be a great writer, another Virginia Woolf, have the perfect family, be the best mother. My path was a journalism, a single mother of one daughter. My writing included campaigns to save a brutalised lioness in northern Italy, Hebridean seals at risk, endangered and slaughtered leatherback turtles in Tobago, and premature babies at Dulwich hospital in dire need of incubators. I covered news, travel, and then big interviews with iconic figures in the public eye. Freddie Mercury, Angelina Jolie, Amy Winehouse, George Michael, Bono, and literally hundreds more. I walked away from journalism to live in Venice and write my first novel, Behind the Mirror. My second, All the People We Are, is set on the Cycladic island of Folegandros. The third, The Shed, is set in Berlin through WW2, and Southern Rhodesia in the 60’s.
During a month’s sojourn in Venice, one writer is not just seduced by the food but lets the physical beauty and rich history of one of the world’s most alluring cities, capture her heart. There is a new wave of travelling that bears a resemblance to The Grand Tour of 18th century Europe, an educational … Continued
There’s a new wave of travellers, harking back to the 18th century ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe, that educational rite of passage for the privileged few. Cultured tourism for those with taste, time and means, where you attempt to like a local, imbibe the history, language and way of life. So I came to Venice for … Continued
George Clooney was so happy with his meal he donated signed tequila bottles to the restaurant – and his owner is quids in. The star sold his tequila brand for £800million this week but not before doodling on bottles for Da Ivo boss Giovanni Fracassi. Giovanni said: “The bottles and sketches he made are … Continued
Angelina Jolie is looking to rent a spectacular property in North London for £64,000 a month. The 1930s five-bedroom house in Primrose Hill, worth £24million, boasts a cinema, swimming pool, orangery and roof terrace. Hollywood star Angelina sent her people to view it as son Maddox, 15, is keen on studying at the capital’s Slade School … Continued
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are invited to a second emotional visit in Princess Diana’s footsteps, following their trip to Paris earlier this month. Top Venetian restaurateur, Eligio Paties, is officially inviting the Royal couple to visit Venice and dine at the same table Charles and Diana shared 32 years ago. An emotional … Continued
A food guru who inspired Jamie Oliver’s love of Italian cuisine has urged him to take a break from TV and focus on cooking again. Marco Bergamasco said: “He has become more like an actor than a cook. He should go back to his roots.” Venice-based Marco was shocked when his celebrity pal shut six … Continued
It has taken the artist Damien Hirst 10 years to prepare his new exhibition, which opens in Venice in April, but one of his most recent works is not included — it is hanging in a nearby restaurant. Hirst visited Giovanni Fracassi’s Da Ivo celebrit y restaurant last week and left him a sketch the … Continued
Damien Hirst was so pleased with an Italian meal that he handed over a quick sketch as a tip – an artwork now valued at £250,000. Giovanni Fracassi, boss of the Da Ivo restaurant in Venice, was stunned when the British artist, 51, asked for a pen and paper after his plate of duck pasta … Continued
