"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

22.06.2016

Lots of you people already know why I’m being silent, this week.

Last Wednesday, while she was walking in the mountains with my father as they used to do, my mother slipped, and fell alongside a cliff. Nothing could be done to save her. She died on Friday 24th, in Como.
I like to think she didn’t realize what was happening, and that she died happily in the place she loved most, in the arms of the man she loved more than anything.

We’re bidding her farewell tomorrow, early afternoon, in Santa Maria di Caravaggio, Milano.
Thanks to all my friends, so kind and affectionate in this difficoult moment.
Spooktober

Spooktober 25 – The Phantom Farm House (2)

Continues from yesterday… ATORRENT of rain held us marooned the next day. Miss Leahy was confined to her room, with a nurse in constant attendance and the house doctor making hourly calls. She was on the verge of a nervous collapse, he told me, crying

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October 25, 2026 6:00 am
books and literature

Alix Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches

I wouldn’t have started this book on my own, and for many reasons. One of them is that in Italy it’s marketed as Young Adult Fiction, and I hate most of that stuff, and the other is its imposing length: 600 pages. I was distracted,

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October 24, 2026 9:00 am
Spooktober

Spooktober 24 – The Phantom Farm House (1)

“The Phantom Farmhouse” is a short story written by Seabury Quinn, first published in the October 1923 issue of Weird Tales. It is one of Quinn’s most famous standalone works outside of his popular Jules de Grandin detective series. I had been at the new

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October 24, 2026 6:00 am
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1 Comment
  • Raffaella
    Posted at 10:34h, 29 June Reply

    Carissima Chiara, trovare il tuo messaggio stamattina e’ stato come un pugno nello stomaco. Ti ho scritto all’unico indirizzo email che ho (quello di IOL), anche se non sono sicura che sia ancora attivo). Il mio email dovrebbe comparire in cima a questo messaggio. In ogni caso, ti sono vicina malgrado le migliaia di chilometri di distanza. Ti voglio bene. Raffaella.

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