As you might know, for the last couple of years I've been working on a novel, a contemporary story about a group of college teachers and spouses touring northern Italy and finding themselves dramatically changed by that beautiful and exciting place. The book's called The Renaissance Club. I haven't secured an agent yet, but in this emerging digital world, I find I'm considering alternatives. I'd love to hear from others who've gone ahead of me in publishing novels, about your experiences, ideas, warnings even. Yes, especially warnings! So here's the elevator pitch:
Renaissance Italy, with its palazzos, hill towns, Venetian islands, and sumptuous art, sets the stage for a contemporary Midsummer Night’s Dream of comedy, desire, mayhem, and magic. A month-long art history tour promises its organizer, Norman Wesley, a new life of freedom from his messed-up marriage and deadening career, but what he gets is his old life in shambles. May is grieving over her inability to conceive a child and is distressed to find herself surrounded by images of Madonnas, infants, and cherubs. Eva's painting career has foundered on the rocks of a long-term grief that also threatens her marriage. As Norman leads The Renaissance Club through Italy, temptations, infertility, discord, betrayal, and theft shuffle the marital deck for some, illuminate the process of making art for others, and prove to several that love is a chameleon. But Italy's magic, and magical appearances by some of its most famous sons and daughters, open for more than one traveler the path to a whole new life.
