NOCTURNE BY SYRIE JAMES. I'VE READ IT, LIKED IT AND THIS IS WHY: RICHARD ARMITAGE!

Plot (from the book cover) : When Nicole Whitcomb's car runs off a Colorado mountain road during a blinding snowstorm, she is saved from death by a handsome, fascinating, and enigmatic stranger.
Snowbound with him for days in his beautiful home high in the Rockies, she finds herself powerfully attracted to him. But there are things about him that mystify her, filling her with apprehension. Who is Michael Tyler? Why does he live in such a secluded spot and guard his private life so carefully? What secret—or secrets—is he hiding?

Nicole has secrets of her own and a past she is running from—but Michael understands her better than anyone she has ever known. Soon, she is falling as deeply in love with him as he is with her— a profoundly meaningful experience that is destined to change their lives forever.

As the sexual tension between them builds, however, the clues mount up. When Nicole learns her host's terrifying secret, there is nowhere for her to run but into the blizzard raging outside, and Michael may be the only one who can save her life.

Filled with unexpected twists and surprises, Nocturne is a page-turning, haunting, and deeply romantic story of forbidden love that will grab your heart and not let go.

 

If you knew my dislike for vampires, zombies, ghosts and monsters in general, you should be really stunned at reading this post/review,  as  much as  I myself was puzzled while reading this novel : I was being charmed by one of those creatures I had always disliked! Dracula? Never got to the last page. True Blood with its gorgeous hotties ? No, thank you. The Twilight Saga? Just watched the first movie to understand why many of my students liked it so much. Now... why did I buy and read NOCTURNE all in one go? Though it is easy to guess, I'll try to explain. 

ON MALTA, MY STUDENTS AND WAR

Leaving and the war

My going to Malta was totally unexpected until three days before leaving. I was asked to substitute a colleague as the English-speaking leader of a group of 41 students + 2 teachers . My colleague  couldn’t go any longer but everything  had  already been  booked and planned.  Unfortunately, meanwhile,   war had  broken out to support  the rebellion against Gaddafi  in Lybia and Malta was so terribly close to that area,  between Sicily and the Lybian coast, precisely. Some families decided to keep their children with them and, sincerely, I ardently prayed  this trip could be cancelled. My prayers were not granted. I had to pack and take off for

Malta two days after the  French fighters had started dropping bombs on Lybia. Students 41, teachers 3, on 22^nd March we landed safe and sound and perfectly on time: our adventures  (struggles and arguments, discussions and exercises of patience , are they adventurous enough?) in Malta started.

Malcolm, our leader from the EC English school, welcomed us at the airport and everything was ok after a while. We didn’t think of Gaddafi, of the bombs or the war any longer and concentrated on our schedule for the next  6 days. A 20 - hour English course for our students, then trips to the most interesting places in the aerea: Valletta, Mdina and Gozo.

Valletta is Malta’s capital city, where we walked and went shopping through the picturesque steep alleys and where we  visited St. John’s Cathedral,  which houses Caravaggio’s Beheading of  St. John the Baptist ( Caravaggio lived in Malta from 1606 until 1608) .  Mdina is the impressive ancient capital, a very picturesque  Arabesque site. Gozo is , instead,  Malta’s little sister-island. Beautiful,  both for its sea and the natural setting.

THE ALEC HALSEY MYSTERY SERIES BY LUCINDA BRANT. BOOK I - DEADLY ENGAGEMENT

Time for a good book on Fly High. Published  as an e-book so far, but coming out as a hard-cover by the end of the year. I had the pleasure to receive this historical novel directly from its author, Lucinda Brant.  I did like it. I simply loved it! It's a "crimance": a blend of crime and romance genres.

COMIC RELIEF, RED NOSE DAY & ... A BIT OF RA

This weekend in the UK has been very special, dedicated to charity but with a light touch and lots of fun for everybody. Comic Relief on TV with their  Red Nose Days all over the UK have been a solid institution for 26 years now. Everything started  in 1985 from  a refugee camp in Sawafa, Sudan, and since then hundreds of millions of pounds have been raised, primarily through Red Nose Days, for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people across the UK and Africa. Two thirds of the money from Red Nose  to charity work in Africa and a third to UK voluntary organizations.

Red Nose Day is a UK-wide fundraising event organised by Comic Relief  which culminates in a night of extraordinary comedy and moving documentary films. On Red Nose Day everyone in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is encouraged to cast inhibitions aside, put on a red nose and do something a little bit silly to raise money, celebrities included.

If you loved Downton Abbey, just have a look at this parody which was aired just yesterday.

Comic Relief was set up by comedians and uses comedy and laughter to get serious messages across, as well as making sure that everyone can have some fun at the same time. Over the years, more than 2,000 celebrities have given their time and talent to Comic Relief, from Johnny Depp, Robbie Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Woody Allen, Sting to, last but definitely first in our hearts,  Richard Armitage!

Here we are, then. Let's have a look at RA's contribution to Comic Relief ...

DO YOU KNOW HOW ITALY WAS MADE?

A clue? The answer is ... by the dreams,  ideals, passion, courage, sacrifice and  blood. Where have all of them gone now? Not the blood, of course. That's something I can gladly do without. But what about the Italians' dreams, ideals, passion, courage?

Italy turns 150 today. Happy birthday, my beautiful spoilt , offended country. Pity I have to use the past tense to say you WERE great. A great country, esteemed and admired by all. Do we have to go back to the Renaissance for that admiration? Even then, there were divisions and violent clashes. So, what? We still had so much to teach and offer to the rest of the world. We WERE a great country of great men like Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raffaello, Tiziano, Caravaggio (not in the right order, I know)

For those great men, there are  many people loving Italy still nowadays, for its wonderful patrimony of Art and natural Beauty. I'm sure of that, I'm among those many. I deeply love Italy. But it is like loving a brainless, shallow,  beautiful woman. You get bored after the first moment of overwhelming passion.
Sadly,  there are people who say they don't want to join the rest of us in celebrating our country's b-day (they even dream a secession),  most of them living in the North, and  a gloomy minority in the South.

LOVE BEYOND IDEALS - EDDA E IL COMUNISTA - I WATCHED IT ON ITALIAN TV

Stefania Rocca and Alessandro Preziosi

When Edda Ciano landed on Lipari shores, sentenced to seclusion,  it was September 1945. Five months after her father, Benito Mussolini, had been caught and killed by partisans  (and hanged by his feet in Piazza Loreto, Milan) and 21 after her husband, Galeazzo Ciano,  had been accused of betrayal and executed by her own father. She weighed 42 kilos, didn’t eat anything…she was there with the intention to let herself die. 

To her Leonida Bongiorno - a partisan and a communist belonging to a strong tradition of anti-fascism, WWII survivor and Chief of Lipari Communist Party  - would be, in  the months to come and for the rest of her life,  her saviour and her true love. Everybody around them warned them,  they had no future , but they were tied by what should have separated them, they were united by their respective wounds, by their passion and by the illusion that love would  help them to win adversities. Leonida risked his political credibility and his relationships with friends and family for his love for Countess Ciano, daughter of  the man he had so deeply hated and fought against. He loved her against all odds and against common sense when she  even  boasted she had remained a fascist.

GIVEAWAY WINNERS - THE SCANDAL OF LADY ELEANOR BY REGINA JEFFERS

Just a brief posting to announce the name of the two winners,  as promised .  Regina Jeffers granted you, readers of FLY HIGH, two copies of her latest publication  on occasion of her interview with me . I'm glad to let you know that " The Scandal of Lady Eleanor"  go to ...

Patty & Luthien84

Congratulations to the lucky winners and many thanks to Regina Jeffers for her kindness and generosity! 

BEAUTIFUL BUT SAD, SAD BUT BEAUTIFUL or WHAT I HAVE BEEN WATCHING

"Every human being is a collection of selves, we never stay one person as we go on our journey to the grave. I'm all these different people, all these different people are me"

I've finally finished watching ANY HUMAN HEART. It took me time. Each on of the four episodes was so deeply moving and full of greatly emotional moments, I preferred to wait between one another. Touching, sad, but so beautiful. Based on the bestselling novel by William Boyd, Any Human Heart,  it is a rollercoaster ride through one man's life. A trio of great actors portray the different life stages of hero Logan Mountstuart, a writer, lover, art dealer and spy living by his wits in the tumultuous 20th century. Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent stars as Mountstuart in his dotage, with Matthew Macfadyen  as the hero in his prime and Sam Claflin as the eager seducer in his impetuous youth. Hayley Atwell, Kim Cattrall and Gillian Anderson also star in this gripping tale of adventure, romance and heartbreak.The cast was excellent and the three actors who played the leading role of  Logan Mountstuart in the three different stages of life were brilliant.  

Hayley Atwell is charming as Freya, Logan's second wife. Their relationship began as an affair, but they soon married. Freya is Logan's love of a life. He would never forget her. 

Matthew Macfadyen, Sam Claflin and Hayley Atwell play together again after the three of them were in the cast of The Pillars of the Earth as Prior Philip, Richard and Aliena respectively. 
Other familiar faces are Kim Cattrall as Gloria, the wife then ex-wife of Logan's good friend Peter Scabius (played by Samuel West), Gillian Anderson as Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, Tom Hollander as Edward, Duke of Windsor, Ed Stoppard as Ben Leeping  and, finally , Holliday Granger as Tess Scabius. 

I liked it and I recommend it to all lovers of good drama. Mind you, lots of tissues at hand needed.

Episodes list - Plot

Any Human Heart on Channel 4 Official Site

Any Human Heart at PBS - Masterpiece Classic

The DVD is already available both for region 1 and region 2

RA-NDOM THOUGHTS - DANCING RICHARD

Saturday night. I'm watching "Ballando con le Stelle"on TV,  Strictly Come Dancing here in Italy . I'm sure my friend Karen/V. is rolling her eyes and turning up her nose. But what can I do? Even the best have got flaws. Mine is watching people dancing. I just love it. And if they are good, I can't resist. It's admiration, envy, for these lucky individuals doing something which I've always liked and thought magic. Dancing!

This week I've spent some time watching Richard Armitage dancing. I've discovered these clips (thanks to RA fans posting about them on facebook) from a musical staged in London in 1994 in which he danced and sang, Cats. I couldn't believe my eyes. I  had read  he had been in that show from 1993 till 1995,  dancing and singing as Macavity /  Admetus (see picture on the left)  before enrolling at LAMDA,  but seeing it with my own eyes was ... unbelievable pleasure. Richard is very young  in these videos and wears a trendy pony tail, sexy blue undershirt and sweats, with a jumper tied at his waist, he is in the foreground downin the shadow  on the right of the screen at the beginning. Later, slowly and sinuously he starts moving and,  incredibly for such a giant,  he moves all  around the stage , light and agile as a feline. He's playing a cat, in fact. Just have a look. Once you focus on him, you won't lose contact with him among the crowd of dancers. He's stage presence is unique. This is a clip from a rehearsal.

ROMEO & JULIET , THE ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE

On Wednesday, 9th March,  I went to Rome to see "Romeo e Giulietta" with some of my colleagues. One hour's drive and we were in Rome. Then the underground  and a nice walk to the  Eliseo which is  in the central Via Nazionale. At the end, after three hours and a half, no bus  nor underground trains. A taxi back to our car park. Was it worth it? 

Juliet is one of my favourite heroines, so young but so determined, matter-of-fact, anticonformist, passionate. I've never loved Romeo very much, not my ideal man: a dreamer, inconsistent, volatile, too impulsive. I 've always liked the richness of this play: both comedy and tragedy, with a variety of love types, miscellaneous characters, a blend of linguistic registers and literary forms, with both high poetry and triviality, comic puns and refined metaphors. 

CELEBRATING? NOT EXACTLY. BUT WORKING, THINKING, WATCHING, READING ...

Mardi Gras? No, thanks. Women's Day? No, thanks. I've been working, as usual. I hate celebrations. I love the  table- for- two -with- candles type , the just- a –bunch- of- good-friends type, even family reunions,  but hate loud, crowded celebrations. Why is that? I just don't know. This is what I am. What I have always been , actually. A misanthrope?  I ‘m sure  I’m not, honestly.  I love people. But never too many at a time. 

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI, EDWARD BURNE-JONES AND THE MYTH OF ITALY

Rome,  March 5th - Outside the GNAM

Another beautiful weekend spent in Rome with friends, another occasion to visit stunning landmarks , art exhibitions and bookshops.  After I watched the TV series Desperate Romantics, I started seeing the Brotherhood of the Pre-Raphaelites as a bunch of fascinating, lively, rebellious young artists and my appreciation for their achievements has increased. This is why I didn't want to miss this DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI- EDWARD BURNE-JONES AND THE MYTH OF ITALY IN THE VICTORIAN AGE.  It was an occasion to see Pre-raphaelite paintings here in Italy. A museum dedicated to the art of the Pre-Raphalite Brotherhood is Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery.

A promo pic from BBC Desperate Romantics (2009)

MEET REGINA JEFFERS AND WIN HER NEW BOOK, THE SCANDAL OF LADY ELEANOR

Regina Jeffers is the author of several Jane Austen adaptations including Darcy’s Passions, Darcy’s Temptation, Vampire Darcy’s Desire, The Phantom of Pemberley and Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion. She considers herself a Janeite and spends her free time with the Jane Austen Society of North America and AustenAuthors.com. A teacher for nearly 40 years in the public school systems of three different states, Regina Jeffers is a Time Warner Star Teacher Award winner, a Martha Holden Jennings Scholar, a Columbus Educator Award winner, and a guest panelist for the Smithsonian. She’s served on various national educational committees and is often sought as a media literacy consultant. 

Interview and Giveaway
Regina Jeffers is here today to present her just  released, The Scandal of Lady Eleanor,  set in the Regency but not Austen-related. Read the interview below and leave a comment or a question for Regina. Don't forget to add your e-mail address to have the chance to win a copy of this exciting Regency romance, the first of a new series. There are two brand new copies available for two lucky winners.Open internationally! The names of the winners will be announced on March 16th.

WATCHING SPOOKS 9 DVD - THE DOWNFALL OF LUCAS NORTH (WITH A LINK TO THE VIDEO)

Warning: Major spoilers, if you haven't seen series 9 yet

(you'll find a link to the video at the end of the post)

I'm so happy. My Spooks 9 Boxset has just arrived. It's a gorgeous box with 3 DVDs. On the back of the box it says:

BAFTA award-winning British television spy drama Spooks is back for another knuckle-clenching series which leaves Section D questioning how much a person must sacrifice to be a spy. The ninth series of the critically acclaimed Spooks is filled with dramatic revelations and a host of new characters: Sophia Myles (Underworld, Doctor Who), Max Brown (Mistresses, The Tudors), Ian Glen (The blue Room, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) , Simon Russel Beale (Much Ado About Nothing, Uncle Vanya) and Laila Rouass (Primeval, Footballers' Wives). 

Friendships will be tested and depth of deceit will lead to an unprecedented game of cat and mouseasthe characters they play and the impact they have on the team dynamic will have viewers enthralled.

I've already seen all the episodes and some of them more than once. So, where did I start watching my new DVDs from? Disc 3 and its bonus interviews, of course! They are so interesting! I've always liked the behind the scenes stuff,  but you know the reason why I am so interested in these extras. I can't deny it: Richard Armitage.