A Year of Firsts – Highs, Lows & Coincidences

2018 has been a year of firsts, pleasant highs, an extreme low, and a handful of coincidences. It is the year I self-published my novel, Beneath the Lion’s Wings; went on an East Coast USA book tour; participated in a taped segment of NBC’s The Today Show; filmed a travel show to be aired on National Geographic People; and lost my mother.

In early 2018, my women’s contemporary fiction, Beneath the Lion’s Wings, had begun to sell well as my mother began her final decline. Pleased to know that I had gotten my semi-autobiographic story into readers’ hands, she’d asked for her signed copy.

Sadly, that copy arrived too late for her to read. Within weeks of each other, these events tickled and crushed my heart, and took me from my home in Venice, Italy, to my native city, Los Angeles. There I placed a final kiss on my dear mother’s cheek, gave her eulogy to a room filled with family and friends, set her favorite peach colored roses at her graveside, and then flew back to Venice, only to catch another flight a week later back to the USA.

There, I began the book tour I had organized months before. The most difficult part on that journey was having to set mourning my mother aside. A necessity that, when I finally took pause to face months later, hit hard. Losing a loved one, especially one’s mother is not easy. Many readers here know how that feels. But that is not what this post is about.

My book tour began in Philadelphia, my mother’s hometown, where I was met with warmth and hugs for my loss, and thoughtful praise for my novel. More of the same occurred in Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Massachusetts, and again in Pennsylvania.

I presented my novel to book clubs, the Italian Cultural Society of Washington, D.C., the Haddon Fortnightly Women’s Club, two Italian restaurants that organized food, wine, and book events, and indie bookstores that announced my presentation on charming A-frame chalkboards set in front of shop doors they opened to me. I saw new places and faces, and shook hands, signed books, answered thoughtful questions from people interested in a good story, travel, Italy, and a novel with a happy ending.

As an author, it was a satisfying and happy time. As a daughter, it was (and is) difficult.

On the final day of my three week book tour, which fell on the 40th day after my mother’s death, I sat in a pew at St. Mark’s Armenian Catholic Church in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. The church my maternal grandparents, Armenian diaspora immigrants to the USA, had helped found and belonged to for decades. The church where we buried my grandmother in the mid-1980s. Where, ten years ago and the last time I was there for a family reunion, I sat on a pew next to my mother. This time, morning mass was being said in my mother’s name.

As in other religions and beliefs, my family tradition calls to let go of the dearly departed soul on the 40th day after death. But I wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. I had been too busy traveling, presenting my story, meeting and speaking to people, concentrating on my novel. I hadn’t had time to contemplate and accept that my mother was gone. Yet there I was, being told by tradition that it was time to free her soul. I felt rushed. Cheated. Somewhat guilty, too. As the priest spoke, and clouds of incense rose toward the arched white ceiling, I looked around the small church, and saw the significance of why I was there, then.

My book tour schedule, set before my mother’s death, called for me to present my novel that very afternoon at Narberth Bookstore—a lovely indie bookshop that serves the same community as St. Mark’s Armenian Catholic Church. But when I had scheduled the Narberth Bookstore presentation, I had no idea that my mother would have passed on, nor that her 40 days commemoration would fall on the same day.

Less than a week after my return to Italy, I was greeted with another unexpected event. A Canadian production company was in Venice filming a segment of David Rocco’s Dolce Italia for National Geographic People, and my husband (as a third generation gondolier) and I (as an American author) were asked to be part of the Venice episode; our first day of filming was scheduled on the same day as my book presentation at Libreria Studium, a favorite indie bookshop in Venice.

It was an honor to work with David Rocco and share favorite spots around town with him, the crew and his beautiful family. David and the crew attended my book presentation, too. He’s a wonderful person, inquisitive, interested in people and places. A natural, and his magnetic smile and personality are genuine. I know that whatever footage makes it to the finished segment will show how special Venice is, and glimpse into those exciting few days we shared together. I look forward to viewing the next season of David Rocco’s Dolce Italia in the coming months.

Then, and as if somebody up there didn’t want me to take a break just yet, my husband and I were asked to be part of the NBC Today Show piece “Is Tourism Causing Venice to Crumble” with correspondent, Keir Simmons. A segment about our beloved Venice, and how the city and Venetians are dealing with, or not dealing with, mass tourism. Keir, the production and crew were fantastic, as is the piece. It can be seen here: https://www.today.com/video/is-tourism-causing-venice-to-crumble-1309705283956?v=railb&

What do I think about these unexpected occurrences placing me here and there, and the timing of these events coming together as they did? A sign…fate…coincidence?  Whatever it may be, I am grateful to have been where I was, when I was.

—

Marie Ohanesian Nardin, born in Los Angeles, California, has always loved to travel. That passion brought her to Italy where she fell for a man and his city; a serendipitous occurrence that changed her life, and inspired her to write her debut novel “Beneath the Lion’s Wings”. Since her move to Italy, the former banker has restored a two hundred year old rustic barn that became the home where she raised her two children, and where she learned to appreciate a good glass of red wine and cook delicious risotto, homemade soups and pasta, and the Nardin family’s secret tiramisu recipe, which she says “…never comes out quite as good as my mother-in-law’s”.

Marie writes for various news outlets and travel media magazines, teaches English, and is currently working on a short story collection, and her next book.

www.amazon.com/author/marieohanesiannardin

www.MarieOhanesianNardinAuthor.com

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17638105.Marie_Ohanesian_Nardin

About BENEATH THE LION’S WINGS

Victoria Greco has given up on finding love. A thirtysomething single woman who works as an executive assistant for a prominent Hollywood talent agent, she’s fully focused on building her career. But then, while she’s vacationing in Venice, a handsome fourth-generation gondolier rows alongside her water taxi.

When Alvise invites her to dinner, Victoria is hesitant. But their chemistry is too strong to ignore, and it would be a shame to pass up a date while in one of the most romantic cities in the world. Hoping she’s not making a big mistake, Victoria goes out with Alvise and then happily spends the night in his arms.

When Victoria returns home to Southern California, she’s surprised to discover she can’t get the charming Italian boatman out of her mind. She’s thrilled when he e-mails her, confessing he can’t stop thinking about her either. Daringly, Victoria invites him to visit.

Once reunited, they fall completely in love. But when Alvise starts talking about settling down and starting a family, Victoria is torn. She’s always put her career first. Should she continue down the current path? Or should she follow her heart to Venice?

“…Good escape reading in this tale of love and toughdecisions in Venice…In her well-researched debut novel, Nardin does a fine jobevoking Venice’s atmosphere, culture, and history. The particular practices andcustoms of gondoliering, along with women’s efforts to enter the profession,make for absorbing reading.” – KirkusReviews 

“Alove story as seductive as Venice itself, with a bi-continental romance, anappealing heroine,  a hunky gondolier, sweet and surprising twists, and aninsider’s authentic details.  The next best thing to sipping a Bellini ona sunny balcony overlooking the Grand Canal. Pure delight.” – Dianne Hales, author of La Bella Lingua and Mona Lisa – A Life Discovered

 

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing