I officially launched my novel, Portrait of a Man, at the East Coast Bays library in December 2020.
Luciano has since been presented at several book fairs and numerous in person talks. I’d been happy to talk to your group if you’d have me. Just send me a message.
In case you don’t know anything about Luciano, let me tell you.
An Italian artist, a Cornish knot and a Maori koru lead to a shocking exposé. As WWI escalates, can he keep his secrets safe?
Matteo Borgoni is a desperate man. If he is to free his beloved wife, held captive by her father in Melbourne, his picture framing business must succeed. His skills quickly establish him with the artists of Dunedin in 1863, but he has many doubts, and many more obstacles to overcome with the memory of failure haunting his every thought.
Fifty years on, Luciano, a rakish Italian portrait artist on the run from his past, turns up at the Invercargill branch of Borgoni Picture Framers seeking refuge. As the ravages of World War One escalate, fear is constant, but compassion brings unexpected consequences. A terrifying pandemic is the last thing they need.
Over a century later, a man recognises a portrait in an Auckland gallery, and demands it back. Amid another global pandemic, a marriage on the brink of failure, and a life and death struggle, the portrait exposes generations of family secrets and deceptions with life-changing results.