The Taste of Light by Giovanna Siniscalchi EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Giovanna Siniscalchi
- Language: English
- Genre: Historical European Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2.2 MB
- Price: Free
Douro Valley, Quinta do Vesuvio, May 1872
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Anne welcomed the sunrays filtering through her umbrella pine tree. It
was one of those days in Portugal when the brilliance of the sky led
you to believe it would be quite hot, but the shade still carried a cold bite.
Her unwilling pupil had made no progress, even after changing his setting
from the nursery to the garden. Lying on his tummy, Tony made faces at his
notebook, some exasperated, some downright murderous.
“Greek isn’t all that bad,” Anne said, accommodating her pug in a cradle
formed by the pine’s root. Sunlight poured there, and James loved the
warmth. The dog had come with her to Portugal, her only comfort on the
shivering nights aboard the clipper, and had been her faithful companion
ever since. The old boy had more than earned his rest.
Tony rolled his eyes and dropped his head on the notebook, hiding the
white pages under his chestnut mane.
Douro Valley, Quinta do Vesuvio, May 1872
“I promised your mother you would finish your verbs today.” Helping
with the eight-year-old boy’s education was the least she could do to repay
her sister-in-law’s hospitality. After her brother married Julia and left
Oporto to reside in the country, Anne’s mother closed their townhouse to
stay with friends in London. Anne had moved to the vineyards, and Quinta
do Vesuvio’s picturesque scenery had become home. Sure, this should be
the year she made her debut in polite society, but who needed a schedule
filled with exciting balls, glittering court receptions, and carriage jaunts at
Parque da Estrela?
Anne exhaled and caught her locket, pressing the heart-shaped jewelry
between her thumb and forefinger. The necklace was a replica of the one
Prince Albert had given to Queen Victoria when he proposed. It helped
Anne remember no matter where she was, her dream suitor, who would
love her selflessly, was already there, somewhere in the world. As long as
she kept her heart open, a higher force, not unlike the mysterious pull of
magnets, would bring him to her.
Tony grumbled and pushed away the notebook. “Why do I need to learn
this? I bet Vasco da Gama would beat these Greeks senseless if he had the
chance.”
Anne didn’t gush about the classic works of Aristotle and Plato’s
dialogues or Greek playwrights like Aristophanes. It would only make the
boy groan. “An explorer can only profit from learning languages. Why, if
you find yourself stranded on some remote island—”
“Your brother is teaching me English. Is it not enough? Why is your
Portuguese different than his? You don’t sound as if there is a frog in your
throat.”
Anne chuckled at the slandering of her brother’s pronunciation and the
boy’s blatant change of subject. “When Griffin came to live here, he was an
adult, but I was not yet your age. Plus, my best friend is Portuguese.”
“I think mamã is his first Portuguese friend.”
“I guess you are right.”
Before Griffin fell in love with Julia, he was the most stalwart peer of the
British community in Oporto. Made of port wine traders and their families,
they inhabited a separate society in the city, with different schools, clubs,
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