A letter from the past

By Eleonora Persichetti

Adele is a girl like many others, finally she has finished her long course of studies in medicine. On the day of graduation, however, a discovery and an unexpected event change her life forever. While she is looking for some CDs, she finds a registered letter, which she may have never wanted to read. But she can’t come back. Surprised and completely disoriented, she decided to leave for a long journey, with her best friend, Cristina, in search of her true identity, which will take her to Tenerife, theater and setting for exciting adventures. A pleasant place that the author describes minutely. Friendship, a short and intense love story with a married hotelier, the specialization course at university and finally Love with capital L, arrive. However nothing is as it seems, even the beloved lawyer hides a secret. And when Adele is about to approach the truth, a twist turns the cards upside down and leaves the reader in suspense.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Jan 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667423302

Book preview

A letter from the past

Eleonora Persichetti

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Translated by The Golden Pen - Matteo Serrago

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A letter from the past

Written By Eleonora Persichetti

Copyright © 2022 Eleonora Persichetti

All rights reserved

Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.

www.babelcube.com

Translated by The Golden Pen – Matteo Serrago

Babelcube Books and Babelcube are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.

ROMANCE

To my father,

to whom I owe everything I am

To my mother,

who reads everything I write

To my grandmother,

for the sweetness She gave me

To all the Angels

that protect me

Author's note

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I'd like to make a notation related to the places described in the novel.

All the descriptions, both those of places and food and wine, are not the result of my imagination, they are places and foods that I have really visited and tried.

The curiosities are the result of research and interviews with local people.

The Coast of Silence, Tenerife

14th May 2011

Living is the rarest thing in the world:

most, they just exist.

O. Wilde

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A ray of sunlight passes through an embroidered curtain, slightly offset from the window. It illuminates the inscription on the bottle of hydrogen peroxide opened just now.

The light reflects off the white of the room. To protect herself she keeps two fingers resting on her eyelid. Through the crack she looks at the steel of the door handle. A bright silver that she hardly recognizes. A little further on a cabinet with a bunch of flowers on it. Outside a park with three benches. Ladies strolling, white coats pushing wheelchairs. A light blue blanket lies folded at the edge of the bed. She turns around. She reads the label hanging on the wall: Adele Concimato, age 27.

The strongest temptations are the bathroom, and the mirror. She staggers, she's no longer used to walking. Everything is unchanged. She feels a small twinge in her belly. She pulls down her trousers, a plaster covers the pain. She gently removes it, with her right hand, she discovers a scar, she caresses its contours, it is almost invisible to sight and touch. She steps back, hits the corner of the door, his bare foot is injured and begins to bleed. She grabs a piece of toilet paper and dabs himself. The blood keeps coming out. It litters the floor. She tries to bend over to clean it up. The pain in her belly increases. The smell of blood is stronger. She keeps rubbing herself. Then she stands up abruptly, looks in the mirror again. She runs to the door to get out. She has no strength, can't bend the handle. Her gaze goes to the clock. 1:30 p.m. She turns around looking for something.

She goes to see what's in the cupboard. She finds a book: The Tale of Pinocchio. She opens it. The handwriting at the bottom of the page: Summer 2010. A photo falls down. She bends down and picks it up.

31st May 2010 - One year earlier

Every man is born a twin:

who he is and who he thinks he is.

M. Kessel

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A small, semi-dirt country road skirted red houses and vineyards and led to a small hillside village on the outskirts of Rome.

Beyond a copper-coloured wall stood the Concimato villa. Nothing could be seen from outside; the hedge obscured curious glances. A large grey gate did the rest.

Inside that house was a family like any other. Neither rich, nor poor. Carla, Mrs. Concimato, had inherited it from her grandfather. They were struck by the immense garden surrounded by pine trees, a gravel path and a table with a white umbrella and patches of rust.

Adele loved her home. She relieved the tedium of her studies by reading a good book on the magnolia tree in front of her bedroom window. Novels were her companions in life. She was studying medicine, wanted to be a dermatologist, and knew Spanish to perfection, a perfect bilingual. When she had asked her parents why she knew that language so well, her father had promptly replied, «As a child we often left you with Carmen, an Argentine nanny». Adele barely remembered Carmen, but in her pronunciation, she was more alive than ever. Her father, Francesco, was a manager of a branch of the Banca San Paolo, a businessman, very considerate of his female daughter. Every Saturday, ever since she was little, he took her to the pool in the winter and to the beach in the Summer. They loved to swim and snorkel. He didn't spoil her; in fact, he demanded a lot from her. Mom helped a friend of her part time at an insurance company to supplement her monthly income.

When Adele told her father that she wanted to study medicine, he was enthusiastic. He followed her in the preparation of the exams, advised her in the preparation of the study plan, dined with her and Carla and they remained hours and hours in conversation.

30th May 2010 was a memorable date for Adele: the day of her graduation. Yet it was another piece of paper that changed her life. In those hours, she discovered what had been hidden from her for twenty-six years.

«Adele Concimato». The last time she heard her fictitious name pronounced all at once without being aware of it. «110 out of 110 with honors».

Once the thesis had been discussed, refreshments followed at the villa Gli Ulivi, in Marino, in the Castelli Romani.

Adele wore smart trousers and a long black jacket. The pink blouse matched her shoes, which faded into the same colour at the toe. Pearl earrings, a gold chain, and a rosy stone, shone like her hair, shoulder-length light curls. Green eyes gave light to her beautiful face. She was most