Guest Post & Giveaway: Kfir Luzzatto

Reading Lark welcomes author, Kfir Luzzatto, to the Nest today. He's here to discuss the inspiration behind his novel, The Evelyn Project. At the end of this post, you can enter to win your own copy. We have TWO up for grabs. We'd also like to thank Pump Up Your Book Tours for including us in this blog tour and mailing the giveaway copies.

The Inspiration Behind The Evelyn Project by Kfir Luzzatto

“I am always taken by surprise when a story line somehow finds its way into my consciousness and, once settled there, demands to be written. Then I’m stuck with it, whether I like it or not. And, unfortunately, those story ideas don’t come equipped with a well thought-out plot; instead, you get this rather fuzzy but nagging image that won’t go away until the story is fully developed. This is what happened to me with The Evelyn Project. 

Evelyn (or, rather Evelina, as she was named in my native Italy) was my great aunt. She died of tuberculosis in 1894. She was only 26 years old. My great-grandfather was an influential politician who left no stone unturned to try to save his daughter and got her the best medical care that was available at the turn-of-the-century, among which praying was probably the most effective measure. 

 Evelyn’s studio portrait, which I used in the book cover, hangs on the wall beside my writing desk. My second daughter, Lilach, is her living image and her 26th birthday is approaching fast. That might have been a catalyst for me to write the book, although the sad story of Evelyn’s death was always a part of my family’s ethos; I must’ve sucked it in with my milk because I can’t remember the first time her name was mentioned. When my parents died I was left with the responsibility to make sure that my family history would not be forgotten. That entailed a lot of reading in books, documents and letters, which brought Evelyn’s figure increasingly to life for me. I learned of her warm relation with her father through letters she had written to him, and I discovered more than I already knew about my great-grandfather’s devotion to her. 

 Throughout my reading and learning one persistent thought kept popping up in my head: today her death would have been an unnecessary tragedy; with readily-available antibiotics an otherwise healthy young woman would not have succumbed to her illness. So what if it was possible to go back in time and save her using medical technology commonly available today? It is probable that saving Evelyn’s life would not have changed the course of history (contrary to what many science fiction books would predict), but even if it did, preventing her father’s private hell would have been well worth the price. 

 Having got emotionally involved in her story I realized that I had to do more than just sit there and shake my head in sorrow. I couldn’t just let Evelyn fade away in those yellowing papers. I had to do right by her (whatever that meant). My investigation of Evelyn’s misfortune allowed me to put myself in my great-grandfather’s shoes, to feel the emotions that he must have felt (he was approximately my age when Evelyn died) and to test the length to which a father would go in an attempt, no matter how futile, to save his child. 

Overall, writing this book turned out to be an exceptionally emotional journey for me. Sometimes I felt ashamed that I was enjoying writing it. Instead of dishing out a uniformly gloomy piece I was writing a fast-paced thriller that, beside the suspense, also has its hilarious moments. 

 This is not the first time that inspiration has come to me like an assignment from above without any real control from my side. I have learned not to fight the impulse and, instead, to embrace it and to allow myself to be taken on an emotional roller coaster ride without a clear vision of where the journey is likely to end. 

 I don’t believe in stereotyping ghosts, so I won’t say that I recognize Evelyn’s hand or my great-grandfather’s stick behind my urge to write the story. It is true, however, that now I feel much closer to them than I did before; they have assumed characters and a presence so real that at times it feels as if we had actually met. I often wondered whether they would have grudged me the use I made of their characters in a commercial book, but something tells me that if they can see us they understand that this is my way to give Evelyn some of the life she has been denied, even if only on paper. 

 But this is not only about Evelyn. My great-grandfather was no less of a victim to her disease than she was. The Evelyn Project is my tribute to them both.

A loving father's cry for help gets into the wrong hands, and a hundred years later things get out of control.

Evelyn’s father did everything that was in his power to save his dying daughter, black magic included. But when a century later his plea for help gets into the wrong hands, all hell breaks loose.

Caught in the slippery battlefield between the Vatican and a cult that wants to change the past, a young Italian professor and a beautiful French aspiring actress are too busy running away from murder and conspiracy to let physical attraction develop into love.

And it doesn’t help that Her Majesty's Secret Service decides to take an interest in what everybody else is doing and to pull some strings of its own. Quite the contrary, in fact…

TWO winners can snag a copy of The Evelyn Project for their very own. Winners must be 13+ years of age and live in the US or CA. The book tour company will be mailing prizes directly to the winners. Winners may choose a paperback copy or an eBook.

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Touring Schedule:

JULY

Monday, July 2nd

Spotlight & Giveaway at Blood Hounds

Thursday, July 5th

Interview at The Writer’s Life 

Friday, July 6th

Interview at Literarily Speaking

Tuesday, July 10th

Guest Post at Writing Daze

Wednesday, July 11th

Review at Far From Reality

Thursday, July 12th

Guest Post at Laurie Here-Contemporary Fiction & More!

Tuesday, July 17th

Review at Dreamers, Lovers and Star Voyagers

Promotion & Giveaway at Kindle And Me

Wednesday, July 18th

Review & Giveaway at Rivers I Have Known

Thursday, July 19th

Interview at Lisa Haselton’s Reviews & Interviews

Friday, July 20th

Review at The Book Connection

Sunday, July 22nd

Review & Giveaway at A Bookish Libraria

Monday, July 23rd

Guest Post at The Housework Can Wait

Tuesday, July 24th

Guest Post & Giveaway at The Bookish Babe

Wednesday, July 25th

Guest Post at Review From Here 

Tuesday, July 31st

Guest Post & Giveaway at Reading Lark