James Carnarvon

Thank you @travlbug for taking the time to comment on each chapter even though you weren't reading the story "live". You're right, Ettore's gang were truly hopeless: showing that his family were probably right to squeeze him out of the 'family business', over which he was so bitter and resentful. If Ettore and his goons were any good at what they did, they could never have been brought down by a bunch of teens and preteens. 😅 Lanterns in the Dark awaits you. I'd better get back to editing chapter nine...

Thanks for the detailed comments @drsawzall! Let's hope Dani can continue to develop his friendship with Marco without sending it off the rails. I hope I can meet your expectations! This particular story is such an ensemble piece, covering so many different relationships, that it has really stretched my plotting skills. As you said, I have had to cover "much ground" - tying multiple plots together wherever I can and, with it, writing more economically. I think my recent experience working on a children's novel has really helped in that regard.

Ah… that’s another story!

Nor was Dani... but, to be fair to Laura, it was Dani who opted out! Glad you enjoyed it.

Yeah, I think the time for that has passed. There was an element of tentative and skittish in the last chapter, but these two have made a decision to accept each other now.

On Monday evening, word got round that Toto was due to be discharged from hospital the next day. When the question arose of who would collect him, Daniele’s father volunteered at once. “Toto’s done a lot for Daniele,” Paolo explained to Salvatore on the telephone. “It’d be my pleasure to bring him home.” At just before eleven o’clock the next morning, Daniele joined the small crowd of well-wishers that had turned out to wait for Toto in the square. They stood beside the ancient stone g

@Summerabbacat this is one of my favourite chapters, too. I’m glad the breakthrough between Dani and Marco felt real to you, because that’s really what everything around Dani’s storyline so far has been plotted towards! I felt the scene at Marco’s house landed just right. Thank you for taking the time to comment on Claudia. For some reason, female characters get less attention at GA 😅. I don’t necessarily see Claudia as gay so much as an assured young woman who has a high bar for what she looks for in a man and, frankly, has better things to do than look for a boyfriend. However, I don’t propose to answer that point definitively, I don’t necessarily know everything about all my supporting characters, and you can see it how you like. I’ve certainly written in enough flex, as you’ve quite rightly identified!

Thanks for all your comments, travlbug! I've been enjoying them a lot. Giaco has probably never been on such intimate terms with his other friends, despite having known them for much longer. By this point, Giaco and Dani have been through a lot together and they are operating on a whole other level.

Writing trivia: Consistent with the title and concept for this story, the chase and rescue scene was originally meant to take place at night. However, it’s not that easy to get to night scenes in the middle of the summer, and I also have another night scene coming in a later chapter that might have been tonally too similar. So, it became a daytime scene.

So, did anybody punch the air when Marco came back for Dani? Because that’s sort of what I was going for. 😅

When word reached them about what had happened, Daniele’s parents hurried home from work at once. Apparently, they had taken the news that their only son had been caught up in a house fire somewhat amiss. To Daniele’s intense embarrassment, Patrizia insisted on bathing him personally until all traces of soot and smoke had been washed out of his hair. Then, over a simple dinner of penne al pomodoro thrown together in haste by Paolo, they scolded him for not having told them about what he had

I see your point. Don't forget, though, that he still doesn't know the truth of Marco's feelings. The present 'hiccough' with Laura notwithstanding, first and foremost, Giaco's loyalty is to Dani. He was also loyal enough to Emilia to caution Dani not to hurt her. I think you'll enjoy the next chapter!

And I'm very glad to have you on board! Thank you for your kind words. The short stories Toto and Michele were really about me getting back into writing after a long hiatus. The rest of the stories in the series are more ambitious, each being of a similar length to The Summer of the Firefly. I think you're the first person to call Firefly a 'blockbuster'! I'm flattered, of course. Please do take your time. Some of my readers burn through whole books in a day or two. That's their prerogative, but I think there are better ways to experience them.

I fear geography would work against this fantastic dash, because the nearest hospital is probably in Salerno or on the other side of the mountains. I like your vision, though. 😆

So, what does the future hold for Dani and Marco without Sami to pull them together? Any predictions? Chapter 7 will set it in motion...

Daniele spent the next couple of days trying to figure out how to talk to Marco. In the care he had shown for Sami, Marco had revealed an unexpected streak of kindness, but each time Daniele had tried to comment on it, the mousy-haired boy had slammed down the shutters as if it offended him. ‘Stop being nice to me!’ he had snapped. What did it really mean? Was Marco still furious with Daniele for stealing Giacomo from him? Was he trying his hardest to hold onto that resentment, ev

I'm glad you liked that section. I wondered if readers might be frustrated by me taking time to focus on that storyline rather than driving the main plot forward. Here's a writing fact for you: For the passage where Gianni tells Dani his family history, I went back to notes I prepared before writing The Summer of the Firefly in 2011. They included Gianni's full family tree and a potted history of his family back to his grandparents' generation - information unused until now. In the process I discovered that I had named Gianni's paternal grandfather 'Giacomo' and, rather than change it, I decided to include it in this story as one of life's coincidences. I did have to make minor amendments to the dates of birth of Gianni and Angelo's generation to reflect the retcon that The Summer of the Firefly was set in 2008. Gianni and Angelo were born in 1993 - the same year I finished primary school. Gianni's father Paul was born in 1960. Gianni's paternal grandfather Giacomo was born in 1923 and his wife in 1925, so they really did wait a long time before having Paul. Gianni's mother Francesca was born in 1968. Gianni's maternal grandmother Marina was born in 1935, making her 73 in Firefly and 82/83 at the time of her death. Logically: Toto was born in 2001. Dani was born 2005 (the young pup).

For discussion of both of those points I will refer you to chapter 6!

August rolled in with an unbroken run of hot, dusty days and warm nights. Even as the summer threatened to tip past its colourful best, visitor numbers in the town continued to swell as Daniele’s parents entered their busiest month of the year. Paolo was out for hours each day, ferrying tourists around in his taxi, while Patrizia was asked to pick up extra shifts at the hotel, which was now fully booked. In the days that followed his abortive date with Emilia, Daniele sunk into a lonely sor

@travlbug I’m glad you’re still enjoying this! Why is Marco small…? He’s… just small! Only in a relative sense rather than an extraordinary sense: naturally inclined to a slight frame and possibly a late developer. He is a deprived child and there could be an additional element of malnutrition I suppose, but I don’t think we’re looking at a case of the most serious child neglect here. The thing about the fight scene is that Marco isn’t an experienced fighter either, hence Emilia’s surprise when he first challenges Dani. Marco has been driven to this extreme in desperation because, in his eyes, he is losing Giaco to Dani. As such, his attack has no technique to speak of and Dani needs to do very little to defeat him. You’re right about Dani’s personal growth. That and the associated risk-taking will be very important later.

@drsawzall I seem to have inspired you to poetry!

From his reactions to her in the first couple of chapters, Giaco is 'aware' of Laura and there is definite curiosity on his part. He's flattered by her attention. However, she's probably the more proactive partner, and he misses Dani. We'll have to see how it all develops...

Curious to know how that whole passage came across. I was aiming for a tone somewhere between almost-romantic and uneasy. I like the tone of your comment. Sort of: "Phew... I'm glad that's out of the way!" What a lovely way of putting it. 😅

Marina’s funeral had been arranged for late morning on Wednesday. Daniele dressed that morning in a plain white shirt, dark trousers and black tie that his parents had hastily purchased for the occasion. Four days had passed since his encounter with Marco at Ettore’s house, and now it was Daniele’s turn to take some food to Sami. He still hadn’t told anybody else about the little boy hiding out in Sambuco; every time he came close to telling his parents, he became paralysed by the image of

Thank you! This is, after all, still a Ravello story. There's quite a lot of plot to set up in the first few chapters, but now you're entering a phase of the story where the friendship really does take centre stage.