Book Launch in Alassio, Italy.

A Darker Breath will be given its Italian launch on Friday 28th June 2019 as part of a celebration for all the schools in the region, marking the end of the academic year. As part of the celebration some students will be reading passages from the book.

Photo of Alassio taken from up near the church in Solva. Great beaches and excellent walking up in the hills that surround the town. Way off in the distant curve of the bay you can make out Laigueglia, but the picture doesn't do justice to its old world charm.

I was hugely surprised and extremely grateful to be invited to launch my book by Signor Macheda, the President of the Associazione Albergatori Alassio and the owner of the Hotel Regina www.reginahotel.it. The fabulous Hotel Regina will be my host while I am there, and quite frankly I can't wait. You can almost step directly onto Alassio's fabulous sandy beaches from the hotel's terrace, so in any downtime from the launch I will be enjoying the beach, the sea and maybe retrace some of Ben's routes to get some more photos.

Hotel Regina at night.

So why should I be launching the book in Alassio? Well, once the opening drama of the book has calmed down a little, the book's hero, Ben Weir, finds himself on holiday in Alasisio to get away from events at home. However, while he's there, things take on a sinister twist and he gets drawn deeper into the underworld of research stealing and biological warfare.

A Darker Breath available in paperback and Kindle formats from all Amazon outlets

I've been travelling to Alassio for holidays and short breaks for almost 30 years now and I love the town's charm and all it has to offer, so it made sense for me to send Ben there after his parents' deaths. Approximately half the book is set in the Riviera town of Alassio, using actual locations. So if you read the book and then travel to the town on holiday you could actually follow Ben's journey while he was there.

Both the towns either side of Alassio are well worth travelling to and can easily be reached by bus or train. However, if you decide to go to Laigueglia I would suggest you walk. It's a great promenade and in the summer you can walk most of the way along the beach. Albenga, on the other side of Alassio, is not as easy to walk to though (unless you're walking along the via Julia Augusta - see another blog post), so I usually hop on the train.

Hopefully I might see some of you in Alassio on the 28th June at the launch. If so, then do please come up and say 'Hello.'

#alassio #hotelregina #laigueglia #albenga #booklaunch #teenfiction #yafiction #comunealassio