Aug 26, 2015

In the land of make believe…


Ever since I was a wee small thing, I’ve been attracted to places that don’t exist. Make believe worlds have always fascinated me. The thought of being whisked away to experience adventure and see beautiful things beyond the scope of the ordinary made me ache with longing.

I remember Peter Pan being read aloud to me as a tiny tot…and going to sleep hoping to wake up in Neverland.

I once stayed in the back of my grandmother’s wardrobe hoping to be whisked away to Narnia.

I formed an unbreakable attachment to Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree as well as her Mallory Towers series. I wanted to climb The Magic Faraway Tree and have adventures (while eating honeypuffs with Moon-Face), and then race home to Mallory Towers (best boarding school in the world) to have midnight feasts with Darrell and Alicia.
Even now I’ll sometimes write fan fiction in my head where I have a starring role in Middle Earth. And Hogwarts. ;-)

Of course, not every town where I’ve set a book actually exists. And, yes, that also gives me a crazily special thrill. So you can imagine my delight when I was asked to be part of the Vineyards of Calanetti series. Monte Calanetti is a medieval village of cobbled streets in Tuscany with vineyards rolling up and down the adjoining hillsides. And you know what? I’ve discovered it’s even more fun creating a make-believe place with other people! Each of the eight of authors involved in the continuity all want to move there.



Here’s a couple of snippets describing Monte Calanetti:

The driveway in front of him stretched through an avenue of grapevines to a series of buildings in the distance. Grapevines stretched in every direction, up and down hillsides in neat ordered rows. They glowed green and golden in the spring sunshine and the warm scents and even warmer breeze tormented him with a holiday indolence he had no hope of assuming.

She led him through cool cobbled streets that wound through the town with a grace that seemed to belong to a bygone age. He found himself entranced with houses made from stone that had mellowed to every shade of rose and gold, with archways leading down quaint alleys that curved intriguingly out of view. There were walled gardens, quirky turrets and fountains in the oddest places.
 

She waved to a group of men on the other side of the square before leading Ryan to a bench bathed in warm spring sunshine. The square rose up around them in stone that glowed gold and pink. In the middle of the square stood a stone fountain—a nymph holding aloft a clamshell. It sent a glittering sparkle of water cascading, the fine mist making rainbows in the air.

It sounds gorgeous, doesn’t it? Wanna move there too?

What’s your favourite make-believe place?

REUNITED BY A BABY SECRET is available from September 1



22 comments:

  1. Oh Michelle

    I loved that little village I so wanted to be there with Ryan and Marianna it really is such a lovely place .

    I read all of the Secret Seven books when I was young and that is were I wanted to be in that village with them all solving mysteries :) my granddaughter Hayley and I are reading these at the moment and I am having so much fun with her :)

    Have Fun
    Helen

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    1. Oh, I'm so glad you loved Monte Calanetti too, Helen. Wouldn't it be lovely just to whisk ourselves away there for a holiday?

      LOVED the Secret Seven books! How wonderful that your granddaughter is getting to enjoy them too. And that you're getting a chance to revisit them. :-)

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  2. Avonlea for me, Michelle! I wanted to find a kindred spirit at the Lake of Shining Waters :-)

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    1. Amy, we truly must've been separated at birth! My very first post for the LoveCats was about how Anne of GG made me a writer. The thing is, I refuse to believe Avonlea is make-believe. I'm convinced that if I ever visit Prince Edward Island I'll be surrounded by kindred spirits. ;-)

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    2. Hmm...am wondering now if a trip to Avonlea could be a tax deduction. ;-)

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  3. What a fabulous village Monte Calanette looks to be.
    I too have always escaped into dream worlds. Might be a writer's thing. Even when I was very young, five or six, I would lie in bed going to places where everything was wonderful. Still do occasionally but now it's usually to do with a story I'm plotting.

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    1. Maybe it is a writers' thing, Sue. But to escape to a dream place is so absolutely beguiling, isn't it? And fun! :-)

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  4. I LOVE the sound of Monte Calanetti, Michelle! I've never been to any part of Tuscany, make believe or otherwise :) The Magic Faraway Tree would definitely be near the top of my list, but I'd also love to visit Kirrin Cove from the Famous Five series or pop down the rabbit hole with Alice for a while.

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    1. I SO want to go to Tuscany now, Barb. The research we did has made me *ahem* rather eager to explore that part of Italy.

      Oh, I loved The Famous Five - especially George. That said, I think it's rather brave of you to want to visit Wonderland. Loved the book, but was kind of pleased to remain on this side of the looking glass. ;-)

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  5. Michelle, what a fabulous sounding place! I'd love to visit too. Can't wait to read 'Reunited by a Baby Secret'.

    I've always adored visiting other places in other people's stories. I think it started with the river in Wind in the Willows then Dr Dolittle's garden then Middle Earth and then the settings of favourite romances and adventures. Now I love delving into the world of my characters - especially when as now it's somewhere lovely like a tropical island.

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    1. Annie, I feel my childhood was incomplete! Neither Wind in the Willows nor Dr Dolittle featured there. I think that's something I need to rectify. But I'm definitely nodding my head in agreement to Middle Earth and tropical islands -- yes please!

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  6. Hi MIchelle, I would love to be in Monte Calanetti right now! Some friends asked us to go to Tuscany with us this year but it wasn't possible for us. Needless to say I looked at all their FB posts with a good deal of envy!
    I was an Enid Blyton fan too. The Faraway Tree was the best of all imagined worlds - I so wanted to find it!

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  7. Oh, no, you weren't able to go, Kandy! What a disappointment...mind you, who knows what the future might bring. I hope to go looking for Monte Calanetti one day. :-)

    And, yes, I'm hearing you on The Faraway Tree. All of the trees where I grew up were mostly skinny gum trees or scrubby wattles and ti trees. But it didn't stop me from keeping my eyes peeled...just in case. ;-)

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  8. Putting my hand up, also, for loving the sound of Monte Calanetti and wanting to visit. Mind you, I need little incentive for wanting to visit Tuscany again. That is definitely Top Five on my list of favourite places.

    As for favourite make-believe place, growing up I loved EVERY bookworld place I could lose myself in -- they were always so much more exciting and adventure-filled than (what I believed to be) my boring home. And then I grew up, moved, and realised that home wasn't so bad after all.

    That said, I still adore losing myself in bookworlds. One current favourite is small-town Marietta, Montana as developed through many series for Tule's Montana Born Books.

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    1. Am utterly envious that you've been to Tuscany, Bron. It sounds wonderful. I'm sure Monte Calanetti would be the perfect place for a romance writers and readers commune. :-)

      Like you, I thought every other place I ever read about was way cooler than where I lived. I love my home...but today I am rather taken with Robyn Carr's Virgin River (guess what I'm reading) and I'm quite sure I'd fit into that town perfectly. Marietta, Montana, sounds like a place I definitely should visit too (if only in my imagination through the pages of a book).

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  9. Great post, Michelle. Having a couple kids enabled me to revisit almost all of the books you're listed, with them.

    Love to visit Monte Calanetti. Hmm, favourite make believe place. I have to say I have always been a bit in love in Narnia. Have always loved the idea that a whole world existed at the back of a cupboard.

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    1. Aw, it's so nice you've had a chance to share your childhood faves with your kids, Jen.

      Narnia! Man, I closed my eyes and wished so hard to be transported to Narnia when I was in my grandmother's wardrobe. Makes me laugh now, but...there's still this little bit of me that keeps yearning. ;-)

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  10. Hello Michelle, I have not been able to read the books of Monte Canaletti,(I have not yet been translated into Italian) but I know there is a place near Tuscany (actually in Umbria, Italy), which looks a lot like Monte Canaletti. There have been a few times and it's just gorgeous. However, in Tuscany, and not only that, there are several small villages alike, and several have been lucky enough to visit them. I'd like to be with fiction in one of those places Australian Outback, that Australian writers describe so well.

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    1. Franca, I am very jealous that you've been to Umbria and Tuscany -- the area is so very beautiful. That said, the Australian Outback is an amazing place too. I hope you get to visit it one day!

      And I hope they Monte Calanetti books are translated into Italian soon so you get a chance to read them! :-)

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  11. Michelle, I love the sound of this Tuscan village! I think I'm going to have to visit soon and meet Ryan and Marianna!

    My favourite imaginery place as a child was a stable or a gypsy caravan or a show jumping ring or the middle of Wyoming! Anywhere that there were horses! I wanted to groom Black Beauty, canter around the ring on Secret, or gallop madly across the plains on Flicka! I had some fabulous horsey adventures in my head!

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    1. Oh, Sharon, yes -- horses loomed large on my imaginary landscape too! We could've been mucking out the same stables or galloping across the same moors together. :-)

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