A tale of friendship and loss

 I used to work with a woman who was about 15 years older than me and we became friends. She'd join us for nights out and weekends away. She moved on to a different workplace, but we remained friends. Eventually she moved to Italy and we even visited her there, children in tow as our lives changed with the passage of time.

She wrote this book, Leaning towards Pisa about her move to Italy and began work on her second novel. Unfortuanely, she was struck down with pancreatic cancer shortly and hurriedly finished the manuscript. She died not long after.

The second novel is historical fiction, looking at three years in the life of Giacomo Puccini while he wrote Madama Butterfly. 

It is the Centenary of Puccini's death and all around the world, Opera Houses are beginning their celebrations of his work. 

Sue's daughter entrusted one of Sue's life long friends from her University days at Cambridge to prepare the manuscript for publishing. As a result, I'll be at the book launch next week and get my hands on a copy. 

It is bittersweet, as she really wanted this book published, and the timing brings a constant reminder of her loss, every time I see Puccini mentioned in the news.

However, the strange part is, in the to-ing and fro-ing of emails, names keep popping up. Her friends that I heard stories about, as you do when you catch up. All these names are very familliar, even though I have never met them, or at least only did briefly at her funeral to put faces to names.

We are linked to people in many ways, some just in the shared loss of a friend. You don't realise how much you peek through a window into other people's lives until the storyteller is gone and you realise how well you feel you know the stranger.

I guess that's the legacy of a life well lived:
enduring friendship.

Puccini's Butterfly is available now on Amazon in ebook. The hard copy will be available from 28 May.

Book launch post is here.

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