The Italian Matchmaker

Book excerpt: 'The kind of book you can't wait to get back to' Tatler Gianluca has to admit his life is empty. His high-pressure City job, his seven-figure income, his glossy girlfriends - all have long ceased to satisfy him. His marriage is over and he barely knows his young daughters. In search of serenity and a deeper purpose to his existence, he flees to Italy, to the magical Palazzo Montelimone lovingly restored by his parents, to chill and to assess his future. But life on the sun-drenched Amalfi coast is not as peaceful as Luca anticipates. The palazzo is filled with his mother's eccentric friends and haunted by the ghosts of its murderous past. He meets a woman whose dark eyes are heavy with sorrow and a solemn little boy with an incredible secret. As he begins to unravel a mystery that has its roots in a long-ago act of violence, Luca is forced to face his greatest fear in exchange for the greatest truth. 'For years I have wanted to write this book. Having seen spirits on and off all my life, I am certain our lives do not end in death, but that we all eventually return home from where we came. The people we love and lose are always around us, watching and loving us. Life does not end in death, it just takes us to another shore.' Santa Montefiore