SimplyStu: Solo in Salento a Memoir

Two years ago, I listened to my voice and followed the words of my heart, the words that said I needed time alone to heal and to reflect on the rough spots so I could leave them behind.

I take a last look around the classroom. I close the door with the soft thud.

I stride into the sunlight with the mosaic tucked under my arm, leaving the anxious child behind.

Welcome to Simply Stew. On today's show, we journey from South Carolina all the way to Italy.

We talk culture, history, romance, joy, life, and of course, food.

Join me in a conversation with Donna Keel Armour, author of the magical book called Solo in Salento, a memoir.

So sit back and relax, enjoy the journey, and here we go.

Describe the writing process for me. How did you get the courage to go from this idea to this book?

It took me a while to get from the opening line to the ending line. It took me quite a while.

The book was not as I envisioned it from the beginning.

I thought, surely I was going to be writing a historical fiction.

I was going to be writing about Idrusa, the massacre of 1480, or Pantaleone's mosaic floor.

And I do. I have a couple of uncompleted manuscripts about just those things.

But I wasn't, the passion somehow wasn't in that writing.

And I was speaking with a friend of mine, and she said to me,

we all want to know about your trip. We can read history. We can read about the floor and the massacre.

We want to know what you were doing every day.

And so I had kept a journal the whole time, taken photographs.

So that's what I set out to do. And once I started writing that, I knew it was the right process for me.

I interviewed a country music band, of all things, a duo. They were Haley and Michaels.

We had talked at great length. They told me a story about, they met somebody in an airport.

They had no idea who this person was, and they recognized

Haley and Michaels, the band.

And she started to cry.

One of their songs had meant so much to this person that they had never met.

How do you feel when people talk about the emotional stories that your book brings to them?

I feel weepy also. I received a letter.

Now, to me, it's incredible in this day and age to receive a written letter, a handwritten letter.

And I received one today.

And the woman said to me, she had just finished the book, and she said to me,

I'm of Italian heritage. And all my life growing up, I was taught not to speak Italian,

to be American, to do these things, to do that. And she said, you made me feel so proud to be

Italian. And she said, you touch on stories that impact all our lives, that are universal.

Yeah, it is amazing, though.

Doesn't it just, something that, did you ever intend that those emotions would flow out of

people and back to you at some point?

I did. And in fact, the hardest part of the book for me to write was the emotional part.

And the beginning of the book and the end of the book came after. I had to write the middle part

first. I had to really immerse myself and remember what it felt like and the reason that I took that

trip in the first place.

And so, yeah, very, an emotional journey for me. And every time someone says,

oh my gosh, you're telling me my life story, I have, I live that emotion with them. So, yes.

It's really, it's funny because this question was next. And I went through,

and there's sections of your book, and I didn't really, you can kind of guess why they're there,

but you put them there, you had to put them there for a reason. Inception,

mosaics,

trash. We're going to talk a lot about trash. Joy and reentry. Why did you section off the book

that way?

So much about my writing is that way. I don't know whether I want to call it storytelling or

parables, but as I'm writing a second and a third book as I speak, and that's how books come,

how writing comes to me. I wrote about the mosaic,

because it was the first thing I did when I was there. So, I didn't attach it to anything. I even

thought I might be writing a book of short stories. And then the second big thing that

that was so important to me as a metaphor for was the trash. So, that was the next section I wrote.

Well, and then I have to go back and tell you that before I wrote either one of those sections,

I joined a writing group, and I had to show up with a chapter, not a chapter, but an essay,

an article, something to read and be,

to be critiqued. So, I quickly wrote what is now chapter 45, The Last Supper. I wrote that first.

And I took it to that writing group and read it for the first time. And that was the group that

said to me, you need to write a book about this.

Are you surprised at how people interpret your book? You're going to see this throughout the

interview today. I connect amazingly with the imagery of you walking around the city,

as you'll learn why in a few minutes.

But some people...

Some people may really focus on loss of faith. There's a top, obviously, there's parts of that.

Relationships, needing to be solo. Are you surprised at how maybe I interpret the book

versus a friend of yours or somebody that you don't know?

I don't think I'm surprised because I know when I read a book and I talk to someone else about

that book and what struck me about what I read, it's always...

It's always a different interpretation, what people see. And it's always based on where we

come from, our background, the things that... The way we were raised, even where we were raised,

even the food we eat. Everything that we've done throughout our lives is our filter that we read

our books or see our lives through.

So, you're not going to be disappointed. Well, I shouldn't say disappointed, but

if I were to focus on just the joy, that's okay with you today, right?

It's great with me.

Okay, we're going to talk about...

We're going to talk about some other things. Every time that I picked up this book,

I would be within minutes dreaming of when I have been to Europe several times.

You captured Otranto and other locations with absolute perfection.

Wow.

I have tried so many times to explain to people the magic of lesser known areas in Italy.

Everybody wants to go to Rome. Beautiful, great. Everybody wants to go to Florence. Beautiful,

great. But I think it's...

It's like those places that you're off the beaten path and you're just like,

where am I? Is that something that you meant to do?

Absolutely. Ray and I have traveled extensively. Ray's my husband. And we've done some of the big

things. But it's not who we are to stand in long lines or to have people taking pictures and they

back up and stand on your feet or poke you with umbrellas or whatever.

And we both are cooks. We love to cook. And we have found that when we go off the beaten track,

we meet people. We meet people who live in these small villages. They invite us into their homes.

They teach us how to cook the local specialties. To us, that is what travel is. It's that connection.

It's not for everybody. Let's be honest. Some of the big cities, some people like the big cities.

Yes. And some people like...

True.

There's a lot of tours. There's all sorts of ways to travel.

Well, you toured a lot in this book. We'll talk about that in a few minutes.

I am absolutely enthralled with churches. Every church that I see, I want to go into.

And the reason is you can go to these big, beautiful churches and they're amazing.

But some of these small churches, you go into a nook or a cranny of a church or you see something

on the floor or you see a painting or you...

You see a door or whatever.

I feel that you share my joy in churches.

How do you explain this to people, the absolute perfection of churches in Italy?

Oh, I'm laughing because my husband would tell you that there are many pictures of him sitting outside the church

because he is tired of looking at every single little church there is to look at.

To me, again, the joy is in...

When I walk in the door of a small church, I know that it's a little church.

small church in a small village. And there's an amazing work of art, or a sculpture, or something

that just takes your breath away. And there's no one there. You're just standing there in amazement.

And if you're lucky, there's a little box you can put a euro in, and all the lights come on,

and you're the only person in the church. Pantaleone's floor. I mean, how many people

know about this magnificent mosaic floor? Not a lot of people.

Yeah, it's, boy, I tell you, I just want to end the interview and get back on a plane.

I'm going to say one word, actually, I guess, two words here, and then you're just going to

start talking, okay? Okay.

Ready? Ready.

Are you sure? I'm sure.

Passagata. Tell me about it. Tell me about the daily walking in Italy. You say it much better,

I'm sure.

Passagata.

Passagata, yes.

Yes. Of all the connections there are, I think Passagata is like this fabulous one,

because every member of every family comes out in the evening and strolls arm in arm.

And I love this. When I was growing up, we did, you know, our girlfriends, we hooked arms,

and we would do things together. And then you got old, and you weren't supposed to do that.

But in Italy, grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, kids,

you know, they're all out. And there's just such joy in the chatter and the conversation and

getting a gelato or stopping for a little glass of wine or something. And everybody's just gathered

together.

Did you, I was going to ask this later, but did you feel, or how long did it feel for you to be

part of that and not a tourist? Was it?

Was it a day? Was it a week? Was it ever? Where you truly felt that you were part of that community?

I think because I've traveled so often, when I step on off the plane in the place where I'm

going to be, I hope I'm no longer a tourist. I want to be part of that culture. I want to

understand all I can possibly understand and honor that and understand it, recognize it. And I wait

for signals.

From the people that live there. I don't force myself or my cultures or my way on anyone else,

but I look and pay attention. And, you know, I purposely signed up for the mosaic class on the

very first whole day that I was there. So I would instantly be part of the community because the

people at that school were part of the community.

The language barrier in a place like Rome or Florence is really not a language barrier. You

can speak English and get along just fine.

But the struggle definitely seemed to be heightened in your book. And it seemed to

heighten your experience, in my opinion. Is that correct?

I think so, because I had to focus. I had to be very intentional in what I was going to do and

what I was going to ask. And when you have to think about asking where a bathroom is or

the way to the stationary store or the grocery store, you become very intentional.

So, yes. And because of that, and because no one spoke English, it was on me to learn enough

Thai-Italian to be able to get around and be understood. And they're such gracious people. So,

you know, they're pulling the words out of me as I go, whether I knew what I was going to say or not.

You just want them to slow down. Slow down just a little bit. You're talking too fast.

You learned how to say lentamente.

Yes.

Slow down.

Otranto has a dark past.

Yes.

This is the part that I was stunned so many times at your book. I really did,

because I had to go back. And I will tell you that I didn't read the last chapter

because I wanted to talk to you first. But the past is dark. There are so many reminders that

are currently there in the city that if you don't know the history, you may not recognize.

You brilliantly balance

certain material with that in mind.

I went back to my old life, though, and I have a few days left of my journey.

How did you manage to shift your past, the past,

and still make this a magical place? How did you do that?

There's a word in Italian. It's called chiaroscuro, dark and light.

And it's used basically in the art world. But for me, it's my word.

Our lives are shadows. There's darkness, there's light. There's overtones, undertones, grays.

with my darkness and light and I can see that in every place that I'm going to be in and I can see

that in other people because that's who we are so is this like a perfect place then for you really

yes yes absolutely but isn't all history like that yeah but I don't I don't know it almost

seems like this city was made for you to write this book well it was yeah I mean you couldn't

have made it up in a different city I mean maybe you could have but you did a pretty amazing job

how do you kind of going on that question how do you honor the history

then of where you where you lived for that short period of time

I honored it by writing about it by

uh I think so much of of history is faith-based so much of history is war

and

so much of history is when we forget to take care of each other so um it it it just it came

it came it came with my fragmented life that I was dealing with and it was it was the perfect

backdrop for what I what I was why I was there and what I discovered while I was there

it truly was magic do you think you could write a book about it

did you write a book exclusively on Penteleone I think that I could uh I would want Paula's help

now he was he just knew so much about that but I I think that that would be a possibility I

don't know whether it will be something that I do but he was such a grand monk and so ahead

of his time and he was studied at a monastery that was very eclectic in that they had uh Jewish monks

they had um Muslim monks they had people that were called enlightened people that were not

necessarily affiliated with the religious sect so I think he has a a very distinctive history

I prefer to go to the less traveled areas as I just talked about

your book seems to encourage this why because again it's what it's what we like to do it's how

we like

travel. I think, I was trying to think, our first trip together to Europe, we'd both been traveled

extensively before we met each other, but our first trip together, we went to Paris, and that

was wonderful, and we loved it, but we knew immediately we only wanted to stay in one little

spot. We didn't want to explore all of Paris, and we've been back to Paris many times, so that we

take each neighborhood, and that becomes our little town, so you can do that in a large town.

We've done the same thing in Rome, and we have a special favorite off-the-beaten-track place. We

stay in Rome, but we do pick out places. Testaveri? Wait. Actually, we stay in Prati. Okay. Yes. Yeah,

we love Prati. All right. These are your exact words. Okay. And this is going to be my favorite

part.

The day. Trash is the one stumbling block in my otherwise idyllic existence. It has become a

responsibility that's taken on a significance bordering on insanity. Explain this.

Oh, well, I think, for me, I had never thought about, you know, I'm quite aware of being a

steward of the earth, so I've always been a person that's careful. No littering, no, you know,

and we've always recycled, but recycle for us here is a very different existence than it is in

another country, and it was just so overwhelming because I didn't get a, I think because I didn't

get a handle on it immediately. I let it kind of drift for a while before I realized I needed to

find out what I was supposed to do with things that were piling up in the kitchen pail or in

the freezer because I was beginning to freeze a lot of the trash.

So, it became, and then when I discovered that my neighbor was actually head of the trash police,

you know, it became an all-consuming job for me, so I didn't get in trouble.

Am I wrong that I actually loved her?

I know.

I absolutely loved her because, now, if maybe something happens in the last chapter where you

hug her or she runs over or something, I loved her. Do a lot of people say that? What is your

feeling about her in the long run?

Or don't wreck the ending now.

No, I won't, and I hope it doesn't let you down. I did have one friend say to me,

if there's ever a movie, I want to play that trash lady. She's just perfect.

But yeah, it was just a good story to tell. You know, it's something so simple. It's an everyday

thing, and I never thought it could be complicated.

Oh, it is.

It is over there. It's extremely complicated.

And we've since learned, which is in the epilogue, that in Sicily, they have five

different trash cans and six different days that you put out five different kinds of trash.

And the different colors.

Yeah, and the different colors.

One more thing that you said. Trash is teaching me to pick apart and discard those unhealthy

aspects of my life as I embrace the person I am becoming on this earthly journey.

It's a perfect ending to that, almost, isn't it?

Yes.

Your book was not always,

solo, in Salento. Was it?

No, it wasn't.

The title. The title. What was the actual title?

The actual title was The Importance of Trash.

Did you fight hard for that name?

I did. I fought very hard for that name. And the publisher just said to me,

we're not having anything with trash in the title. Forget it.

Oh, my goodness. I loved it. I'm kind of betting on this. I've got a,

überide, Schubert's scribet こんなと言われてたんですよね

I think I know what the answer is but I really want to know,

what was more symbolic, the mosaic itself or the blood that's still on the mosaic?

I think there are two things that are more

symbolic for me, both the blood and the humility stone in the mosaic.

And those are the lessons that I felt like I brought home with me.

that nothing but creation is perfect,

no matter how hard we strive,

and goodness knows we humans strive so hard for perfection.

But it was such a refreshing lesson

that I knew before with words and my intellect,

but I didn't know them in my heart.

And working on that mosaic hour after hour

and thinking of people 900 years ago

who would have been squatting on the floor

or kneeling on the floor,

putting stone by stone in place,

cutting, putting them down, pouring the mortar,

it just gave me such a sense of continuity.

How big was your mosaic?

Just kind of on the camera, like how big was, right?

It's not very big.

No, it's far bigger than they wanted.

They wanted me to do a little like a coaster size,

and I came in prepared with all sorts of ideas.

And so it turned into, what was that,

about 12, 8 by 12 or something like that, I think.

But look at this room.

There is oftentimes where there's these mosaics

that are as big as this room, bigger, massive.

How did they, you think about it,

yours was this, right?

And these mosaics are,

going back to this,

the churches, sorry.

I'm definitely on her side on the churches.

That's one of the reasons

because you look at these churches and I think,

how did, this wasn't built in modern technology times

where they had all this modern equipment.

And I'm just amazed.

It took two years for them to put that floor down.

I always think about,

I go back to the descriptions that you gave

of the room that you were in.

Because oftentimes, if not almost all the time,

you were alone.

Right?

When you were doing the mosaic.

Outside of when she was there helping you,

which kind of got to be a great story.

She kind of gave in more and more and more.

But you were alone in there.

I can just, you know, think of an Italian city,

kind of dusty, not clean, not that it was dirty air,

but dusty air.

And it's just, and you in this room

and all this time to think.

Was it as magical as the book portrayed?

It was.

It was such a quiet time in my life.

There were no voices in my head saying,

you need to do this, you need to do that.

You need to go here, you need to go there.

That was perfect peace.

Perfect sort of being one with the work I was doing.

You said the most important thing

for every author is the readers.

Yes.

I mean, it seems logical.

The next two questions, I'm gonna basically say

it seems logical or it seems like an easy question.

But that's not, it's not the easiest thing

to say or believe.

No, it's not.

While on the surface, the difference between

Solo in Salento and Solo in Salento a Memoir

seems very insignificant, but it's not, is it?

No, it's not.

Why?

Solo in Salento, when I first started writing it,

I have to tell you, not when I first started writing it,

but you know, you have beta readers.

And one of my beta readers is a screenplay writer.

And he loved it, but he kept saying to me,

well, make them do this now, make them do this.

And I said, well, I can't, it's not fiction, it's nonfiction.

So, and then in a memoir, you have to put yourself into it.

You have to give of yourself completely over to the process

and identify with the work.

And for me, that was painful.

In my experience, we're getting right back to the fun stuff.

In my experience, food was always the best part of the day.

Unless you were that rare, I don't wanna say rare American,

but rare American where you just didn't respect

that you were in, you weren't in the country

that you are from, you seem to absolutely thrive

any time you crossed over into a restaurant,

was that on purpose?

Because I didn't see anything negative.

There was no deep, I'm sure there was deep thoughts

in restaurants, but everything was always joyous.

Was that on purpose or didn't I read it correctly?

Well, I'm gonna stumble here

because food is just a joyful thing for me

from start to finish.

Ray and I have such a joy of cooking

and more than the cooking, the sharing of the food

and sharing it with others.

Our friends and family, our neighbors.

And when I cross into a restaurant,

and particularly in Italy, my thought process

is I am entering a home and that's how the restaurant owner

views their restaurant in Italy.

It's their home.

And so I don't go in making demands.

I go in humble and honored with whatever it is

that they've prepared that day

and I know it's going to be delicious.

Oh, it's wonderful.

He does most of the cooking, right?

Ray does most of the cooking?

He does right now, because I'm doing most of the writing.

That's good, I like it.

All right, my wife and I had the most magical

30th anniversary not too long ago when we went to Italy.

I look back and it was absolutely pure magic.

I'm a little afraid to go back to the same places

because it was so incredibly magical.

Like everything was perfect because we missed the train,

we got to do this, and that was magical.

I couldn't recreate that.

Am I crazy in thinking that?

No, and I have not gone back to Otranto.

I do intend to, in fact, I was going back in 2020

because I wanted to take my book back

and put copies in the library and give them to the mayor

and all that sort of thing.

The thing is, Ray and I have gone back to places together

and there are a couple places.

There's one in Umbria and there's another in Sicily

that we have now so many good friends there

that we always try to go back.

Is it the marina in Sicily, the marina?

Diragusa, yes, yes, yeah.

Okay.

So when we go back, when we can travel again,

we will be back there too.

I'm gonna be right on your tail there.

All right, we're gonna talk about some of the characters

here because I gotta figure this out.

Priscilla, flip-flop lady.

What do we call her?

Do we call her flip-flop person?

I think so.

Did you, it was almost someone

that you didn't want to become friends with.

She was almost an annoyance to you,

but at the, it seemed like every time it was like,

man, she's just, you know, she may be an annoyance,

but she's always there for me.

Was there some symbolism that was there

that I was reading into that really in the end,

she was always there and she always meant well,

just wasn't the perfect mix of personality for you?

One of the things I've learned in life

is that if a person annoys you,

you need to look to yourself and to sort of examine why.

What characteristic is it about them that annoys you?

Priscilla.

Yeah, and do you have some of that tendency yourself even?

But she didn't seem anything like you.

Well, she didn't, but she taught me a lot of lessons

and that's always a good thing.

People teach me to be tolerant.

They teach me to be open, fair, to listen.

So, regardless of whether

I would have chosen

to accompany her on, on some of the adventures

we went on. Or Bobbie.

Or Bobbie, yeah.

Yeah, or Bobbie.

He was a little, he was a little more relaxed with himself.

She was pretty intense

and I can be pretty intense

so I saw that as as letting myself let go of some

Of staring Victorian. Wait. Listen. Wait a minute. Do you're可以 tasty kiゼ

of my own intensity he was miller when she got she got hurt and he ran to get some stuff at the

store right came back in a while what lessons did francesca teach you francesca was just

he taught me the lesson he improved how i saw hospitality i think he just had it down pat

he just made me feel like oh i was the queen when i entered that restaurant everything

it was as if there was no one else there but i know he treated all of the guests that way

he had that just so fine-tuned it was beautiful yeah and i felt so special when he was there you

find that over and over in italy you do a lot yeah i don't think people can truly understand the um

when you look into a restaurant that only has 10 tables or five tables

those are the ones

that you really you know you want to go into yes and check them out and frederica and mateo

what did they bring out in you oh

it's a weird combination well i'll i'll leave it to you that way that i put them together

yes that that's interesting no one else has really put them together because he's

you know he's not a major character or anything in the end

not at all he's very quiet always in the background except when i thought i was getting

kids

in in the beginning he's kind of an innocent cat so he was just a little yeah

an innocent cat that you wouldn't see in this kind of distribution but there were people who

wouldn't see this kind of distribution but she is maintain it's an intimate relationship us

that's so lovely and without yes and we will move on to the next saviours

and i will do some of those uh that have been mentioned even though they're so white-aholics

You know, you always have to have a place.

And even where we live, you know, you have a place, a special place.

Everybody knows your name.

Right.

That just makes you feel good.

Yes.

Yeah.

When you mention Barbara, you say, my heart and head already speak Italian, but my tongue

waits to learn the music.

Tell me a little bit about that.

Well, that's a difficult question for me to answer, and I'm not sure that I can give

you the inside of my head on that one.

I'm a huge fan of Pat Conroy, and I have to tell you, he was the first person that I heard

music in his words.

And then I began to study Italian, and the music is in it.

For every Italian word for me, I mean, you pronounce every vowel.

So right away, as a Southerner, I love that.

You know, I've always been pronouncing vowels when you don't really need to pronounce them

all.

So I had to wait, and I'm still waiting because I don't have a great grasp of the language,

but I have enough now.

And when I hear it, you know, my heart sings.

There's just the music.

I will say that...

After about an hour of reading your book, I started to pick up Babbel, and I am going

to do everything I can to learn Italian, and it was only from this book.

Well, thank you so much.

And that's why it's so hard, because I keep telling my wife, oh, I've done this, and then

somebody says a word, and then I panic, and then I think, slow down, and then I can look

at a word, and I know what it is.

I can know the real basic stuff.

So you've inspired me.

And to do that, I just love Italy, or love Italian, love Italy.

And actually, we go a lot to Switzerland.

And Switzerland, they do speak a lot of Italian there as well, depending on what part of the

country you are at.

We're going to talk a little bit about that in a second, but why did game shows bring

you so much joy?

I don't know if there was some deep...

Meaning in there, or if it was just on the surface, because you could go home, right,

from a day, and say, I'm just going to sit on the couch, put on my pajamas, and I'm going

to watch a game show, and life is good.

What was it?

I think when Ray and I first started traveling together, he was a big TV person.

I'm not.

I rarely have the TV on.

And the only thing we could really sort of follow were the game shows, that we could

understand what the possibilities were.

Yeah.

Everything else was just a foreign language to us.

And so, because we traveled to the same places, or the same countries, Italy is notorious

for these game shows.

And the same host, it's their job for life.

You know, you have to die before someone else gets a chance at being a host.

So, they became people we knew, those MCs.

I mean, we would immediately turn on the TV and say, oh, is he still here?

Oh, yes, he's still here.

You know?

So, and it's a soothing...

It's a soothing kind of thing, because it's familiar.

When you're living in a foreign country, you don't speak the language that well, you've

been out all day, you've been really pushing yourself to speak the sentences that you can

speak, to find out the information you need to find out.

And then you come back to the apartment, and you cut that on, and it's just like, oh, yeah,

I know what they're doing.

When I travel, it'll be interesting to see what you say.

Well, obviously, you bring back symbols.

There was a lot of, when you went into the stores, and you bargained, well, it wasn't

necessarily bargaining, but it was almost like you'd go in there, and they would find

that perfect thing for you, right?

Mm-hmm.

What are some of your absolute favorite things that you still have to this day?

I have the starfish necklace on, and of course...

Which you talk about, obviously.

Yes, it's in the book.

And I think...

Well, the most special thing that I have that was a very special birthday gift for

me was a table from Daruda, and it's a beautiful table that's in our courtyard, and it was

handmade and painted with the lemons and the cobalt blue, so that's something we can share

with everyone, so that's a very special piece.

And every time I go...

I'm not a person that needs expensive jewelry or fancy jewelry.

But I love the handmade jewelry, and it's so easy to tuck into your suitcase.

And so I have some just beautiful, unique pieces that remind me of a little island off

Sicily, or they remind me of a place in Spain or Africa or France, you know, and it's just

that small thing, whether it's a pair of earrings, a cuff bracelet, or a starfish necklace.

You had to email your friends regularly.

And I know that...

I know that the two of you talked, whether it was daily or every couple days, whatever

it would be.

The first question I really asked you was about how you went from the idea to the book.

But was it those emails that really ultimately pushed you to give you the courage to write

the book?

I don't know that they gave me the courage, but I certainly had a wealth of information

because I share...

Every day, every evening when I would come home...

Usually after the game show, after I'd slept for a few hours, I would just wake up and

be all refreshed, and then I would get on the computer, and also because of the time

difference, that worked very well for the time.

So when it came time to write it, I had all of that.

I had it all down.

I had, you know, the conversations down, dialogue down that I just shared, because it was a

very small group of friends, maybe about eight people that I sent them to.

So it was something that you definitely added.

That added to the book.

Oh, yeah, it did.

I totally get solitude.

People don't understand when I say, I'm just happy to be alone.

Just let me...

I'm totally fine with that.

Not everybody digs that.

Not everybody can live with that.

But why is solitude so vital to your life?

I think because it's the way I regenerate.

I'm an introvert.

I'm an introvert by nature, and when I do things in public, or even when I'm with friends,

or even if I go to a writing class, or I attend a seminar, I'm easily drained by those kinds

of things.

And I refresh myself by solitude, and contemplating what I'm going to do next, maybe meditating

a little bit, but it's just regeneration for me to be in solitude.

What was the biggest surprise?

What was the biggest surprise from the book?

So I assume...

I've never done it, obviously.

You write the book.

You give it to your beta readers, right?

They come back.

You finally get this.

You finally get your first book.

Do you actually read it?

Or have you read it so many times, you're just like, uh...

I mean, it seems to me that I'd want to touch the book, right?

Did you read it for that first time?

And if so, or after you got this, what was the biggest surprise?

Ray read it for the first time.

How about that?

I had read it so many times, and he started reading it, but I kept changing it.

So he said to me, when you finish, when it's bound, you give me the book, and I will sit

down and read it cover to cover.

And he did.

I have not read it.

I read it so many times that I can probably quote chapter and verse to you without reading

it.

And then when I do events, I'm usually asked to read.

And so if they don't pick out something, which is often the case, the host or hostess does,

then I just pick something out that I love and read it.

If you look at the back of this, you would think that this is, you could read this book

and think it was fiction, right?

Yes.

You really could.

That's why my friend kept trying to change it.

Some of the activities.

This book right here, if you didn't know, it could be, somebody could kind of guess

whether it was fiction or nonfiction, but this really happened.

And I think the marvelous part of that is that you two must have had something really

pretty awesome that you both agreed at some level that this was going to happen, and you

were going to stay alone thousands and thousands of miles away.

Okay.

What are you really thinking on that flight home?

Ray, Donna's husband, is going to join in the conversation to help the readers understand

the back story.

I was a little apprehensive, but I had a comfort level because I had, when we went there, I

went with her, and it's been two days, I think, three days, something like that.

And then we got in the car and drove to the airport.

And I felt comfortable where she was staying.

We had met some of the people in the area, just like the restaurant and that.

And just their whole general attitude, they were comfortable with me.

I felt comfortable with them.

As time went on, then, did you feel better?

Did you start to feel better and better about this, or did you get more like, I really want

to go, I want to be there with her?

I felt better.

I felt more comfortable as time went on.

And we talked on Skype, and not every day, at least every other day or so.

And I just had a comfort level that everything was okay.

And this is marvelous.

Do you not look at her and say, wow?

I mean, now, looking at her now, you just have to say, wow.

Yes.

I mean, it's just, the only thing, probably, I had is when she came back, I went down to

the airport, pick her up.

I said, she better be on that plane.

Because I knew she didn't want to come back home.

In a sense, she didn't.

And I understood that.

Please, please, please, please, please, and Ray may or may not want this, please tell

me you have a new book.

And please tell me that you're going back to England.

Yes.

To Italy in the book.

I have a new book.

It's with Beta Readers now.

It's called The Red Starfish.

And it's a mystery.

And I've already started on my third book, which I hope will be a follow-up.

And the main character is a caterer.

She's a low-country caterer, and she's been planning for a long time to spend a year in

Italy.

And just a few days before she gets on the plane, her best friend, who lives in Italy,

really disappears.

So that's the premise of the book.

And of course, The Red Starfish Necklace has to be the title.

So it'll be interesting with the publisher again.

Now, you've kind of learned, though, what they like.

So you're probably pretty good about that.

They're going to let you do it this time, right?

Well, I don't really see that they can find fault with that.

They might want to embellish it.

Right.

All right.

So I have a question.

I'm going to put you on the spot here, okay?

All right.

Here's the scenario.

I have just given you a year-real pass.

You are in Italy.

You can only stay in a city two nights.

This is not typical for you.

You can only stay in a city for two nights, and you're going to visit five cities.

Tell me those five cities.

Siena.

That's one.

Lake Orta.

Okay, that's two.

Oh, Matera.

Okay, that's three.

Galipoli.

That's four?

Uh-oh.

Yes.

Say it.

Come on, Ray.

Ray, come on.

Jump in there, because that's one.

Marina di Ragusa.

Okay.

Can we add six?

Because I think I heard Ray say something.

Say it up close to the mic.

I said Assisi.

Yes.

Oh, Assisi.

Yes.

I'm so sorry.

I couldn't think of that, because I would have put Spoleto, too.

Okay.

And Assisi.

Assisi is, I see it all the time.

It looks magical.

It's never on anybody's kind of list, but I think that's a place I want to go.

So, I should go there, right, Ray?

Right.

You should.

We stayed there two weeks, didn't we?

A week.

All right.

Yeah.

You did fabulous.

We are going to close the interview here today.

I have 10 questions for you.

Not allowed to think about any of them.

Are you ready?

Mm-hmm.

Your favorite place for a ...

Passagiata.

Where is that?

It's probably Assisi.

Okay.

Ray?

Oh, Lord.

Can't think.

Yeah.

Passagiata.

Yeah.

Passagiata.

Probably would be Assisi.

Okay.

Sounds good.

Favorite food in Italy?

Seafood.

Okay.

There we go.

Beautiful.

The one place we should all visit that isn't in a travel book?

The Zenzalusa Caves.

Ray?

Oh, I'm putting Ray on the spot here.

You know, I have to agree with her because it is ...

It's magical.

... unique.

Yeah.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

It reminds you most of your Italian travels.

O solo mio a Conte Partiro.

Are you going to just agree with that, Ray?

No.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

What do you got?

No, I don't disagree with that one.

Oh, okay.

So you're good.

Yeah.

Okay.

Good.

Conte Partiro is his favorite.

Andrea Bocelli.

Okay.

Beautiful.

Yes.

Okay.

All right.

Your favorite Italian phrase?

Chiaroscuro.

Un bicchiere ... Un bicchiere a vino.

Okay.

A glass of wine.

Nice.

I like it.

Okay.

Here we go.

What is that one Italian city that you have never visited that you want to visit?

Trapani.

And Ray?

That's a tough one.

This would be insistent.

I would probably say Palermo.

Beautiful.

Here we go.

You could invite anybody to be your personal Italian tour guide for a day.

Who would that be?

Paola.

Yes.

If it were Ireland, it would be Eugene.

Favorite place to eat breakfast in Italy?

The Blue Bar.

I should have just said ...

My favorite place in Italy is ...

Rose's Cafe.

Yay.

Rose's Cafe.

In where?

Marina di Ragusa.

Okay.

My last question.

I am so sad.

I want to keep talking.

I could talk for days.

Got to think about this.

Name the exact location for the most magical Italian view you have ever had.

For me, it's the little villa we stayed at in Castro di Marina.

And on the ... It was over the water, and there was a piece of land jutting out, and

there was a single tree on that land.

Ray, you're shaking your head yes.

That's it.

It was absolutely beautiful.

All right.

Well, I want to thank you.

This has been marvelous.

Thank you.

I cannot ... I have never been so joyed in reading a book in my life.

Thank you.

There is something with my absolute love for travel, and that we just got back from our

30th anniversary not too long ago, that is truly magical about stepping foot in Italy,

or Switzerland, or Europe, or just overseas.

Yes.

And whatever it was, it was from page one, and I kept telling my wife, I don't want this

to end.

I just want to read slower.

And she goes, don't you want to finish the book?

And I'm like, I really don't want to finish the book.

I just wanted ... So I just ... Sometimes I would only read for 15 minutes.

And I just put it down.

And she said, you're done already.

And I said, well, I just ... I'm just going to be sad when it's over.

Thank you.

So I really want to thank you.

People need to read this book.

It is just a marvelous book.

Ray, thank you for coming on.

And certainly, Donna, thank you so much for taking your time out of your busy day here

to come and speak with me today.

It was a privilege, too.

Thank you.

I want to thank Donna and Ray for coming on the show today.

This is a fantastic book.

I hope you all enjoy as much as I did.

Again, thank you so much.

Thank you.

And again, Donna Keillor Armour, author of Solo and Sollento, a memoir.

And before I close, Donna was kind enough to read a small segment of her book to close

us off today.

Thanks again.

I carefully wrapped the mosaic in a towel, taking one last look at the humility stone.

I cleaned the classroom for the final time.

Terry Tempest Williams' words of finding beauty in a broken world resonate.

I consider my misplaced apprehension.

henshin on the first day of class and wonder if I will ever eliminate that dread and leave that

fearful, anxious little girl behind. Taking this class in mosaics has been joyous. The broken

fragments of marble will remind me that all is temporary, both the good and the bad of our lives.

The rough patches of the mosaic taught me to open my ears, eyes, and heart, to listen, to learn,

to appreciate, and to be grateful for the joy I've been given. Two years ago, I listened to my voice

and followed the words of my heart, the words that said I needed time alone to heal and to reflect

on the rough spots so I could leave them behind. I take a last look around the classroom. I close

the door with the soft thud. I stride into the sunlight with the mosaic tucked under my arm.

I wonder if I will ever eliminate that dread and leave that anxious child behind.