You could say this has become tradition,…

I am anchouring the delightful #vlog interview I shared with Edale Lane with this lovely after I’ve read the book conversation for Secrets of Milan. I love having the chance to interview authors – either on Jorie Loves A Story directly and/or through my bimonthly (or sometimes weekly bookish chat @SatBookChat). It allows me to delve #behindthebook, seek out the author’s writerly style, voice and inspiration for writing said book whilst at the same time – peering into their writerly process and to better understand who they are as writers.

It isn’t oft I get to read a book in full ahead of sorting out the questions I want to ask the author – as generally speaking, for the life of my blog (til this point) for the past seven years, most of the conversations have been developed whilst doing research online into the writer’s collective works, their previous interviews and a few readerly reviews where book bloggers and/or reviewers have writ such an informatively insightful recollection of their readerly experiences I’ve been able to craft a conversation out of the research I’ve invested into that author. Other times, such as today – I’ve had the chance to develop a conversation to reflect my readerly ruminations on behalf of a book I’ve read – getting to hug closer to my own views I’ve shared in a book review and seeking to expound upon those views as I delve deeper into the back-story of how a story was first written, conceived or continued if it is part of a series such as the Night Flyer trilogy I’m featuring today with Edale Lane.

This is a second featured post during the blog tour hosted by the lovely Tomorrow Comes Media – who is a blog touring company I’ve been blessed to have worked with collaborating to host book reviews, interviews, guest posts and special non-conventional content for book bloggers such as when I interviewed two lead actors in a pilot film for a pitch for television and two vlog style interviews featuring both E. Chris Garrison (ie. Ms Chris) and Edale Lane.

There have been a few occasions in the past history of Jorie Loves A Story wherein I’ve had the pleasure of joy of interviewing an author by telephone but only a few of those made it through the editing rounds to reach my readership. One in particular I’m hoping to bring to my readers during #MyYASummer which was just recently announced as the conversation and the hard copy notes for the interview were lost until Spring 2020. Thereby, this is a special day to celebrate the joyful connections we can make as readers and authors as we celebrate being bookish in the book blogsophere.

Prior to book blogging, I also participated in phone-in interviews with authors via a now defunct programme which paired us with published authors on group calls wherein we could take turns asking questions of the authors and responding in real-time. A few of those transcripts also made it to Jorie Loves A Story as the conversations continued during my first year as a book blogger before they were shortly discontinued thereafter. It is a wonderful moment to have a real-time conversation with an author and I am blessed each time an author lets me interact with them on the phone and/or agrees to a bookish discussion during #SatBookChat as it is a virtual meeting space where readers and writers unite together to discuss a mutual passion for the crafting of stories.

Today marks a bit a of a tradition where I have read an installment of the Night Flyer trilogy and I am now able to discuss my ruminative findings of the story with the author Edale Lane. I hope as you tuck into our conversation you might consider giving this Historical Fantasy series a bit of a go in your own readerly pursuits as we’ve highlighted a lot of the key discussion points of both “Secrets of Milan” and the series overall. One aspect of the conversation I strived to shield my readers away from were *spoilers!* and those sections were omitted but happily disclosed and discussed privately between myself and Ms Lane. (big smiles)

As always – be sure to grab your favourite cuppa

and ENJOY where this conversation leads you!

At the heart of this series is family – both the ones you create for yourself and the one you are bourne into which is what makes it such a compelling drama. Especially if you take into account the lengths Florentina has always gone to ensure the sanctity of honour for hers and the protective armour she tries to envelope over Maddie and her children. Yet there is a third carefully considerate character emerging in the background of their lives which is Maddie’s brother Alessandro who is just as observant as Florentina and has keen insight into their lives from an outisde perspective. He seemed to be the kind of brother who you’d want in your corner – kind, supportive and willing to let you live your life without interference or commentary.

Ah, yes, what can be said about the arch nemesis of the Night Flyer, Don Benetto Viscardi? He is truly a man whose torn himself between the choice of revenge (for his destruction in both status and in business) and of choosing to take the harder road towards redemption. He’s a man in conflict with not just himself but with life – how he chooses to deal with his disruptions in life would put anyone at ill ease because he doesn’t own the mistakes he’s made nor does he find any ill will towards placing blame onto others for actions he’s guilty of himself. In may regards, Viscardi is both the most intriguing character of the trilogy and the most vexing; he’s definitely a morally gray character but one who has given Lane the chance to present to the reader in a way that humbly speaks to the choices everyone has within them: do you revert back to your old ways of living after you’ve been interrupted in your vile plans or do you take heed of unwanted advice and choose an alternative path?

This is what intrigued me as I read his sections of the novel – I hadn’t wanted to be invested in his character’s path but there was something about how Lane wrote his sequences in this installment which implores you to hug close to his scenes and to root out what Viscardi chooses to do. Although at the same time, it was his family you grieve for the most – they had to put up with him vacillating in his ruminative state of uncertainty and in regard to his son, Niccolo I felt he was most unfair in how he handled disclosing the current state of their affairs. Children need to know they have security in life – even if you’ve lost your wealth and your way of living, children like the reassurance that they can trust their parents to figure a way forward if nothing else. Niccolo unfortunately was coming back to his family at a state of chaos as his father was not yet ready to step up to be the father he felt he had always been.

Part of the mystery within the folds of this story were also relating back to da Vinci – especially in regards to a particular horse he was commissioned to create for a certain Duke. What made this bit intriguing is how the back-history of this commission was even more interesting than how the horse itself was being used as a clue (at least for me) because of the tragedy of it really – how the Duke wasn’t able to have the horse he truly wanted despite the hard work da Vinci had put into creating it. It felt like such a hard ending to a project da Vinci had devouted himself to doing right – which of course speaks volumes about other characters in this series as well. How sometimes you are aligned on a certain path but suddenly find the trajectory you felt you’d take had to alter course?

I love how grounded this series is in how it is told through a philosophical, metaphysical and spiritual background of intuitive knowledge and observation. Lane happily inserts bits of her own research and her own keen insight into the Renaissance in nearly every chapter wherein a bit of back history or a murmuring of realistic foundation is necessary to carry-on the plot to re-anchour the era in the minds of her readers. I’ve been enjoying the disclosures but also how she’s set the pace of the trilogy – to first and foremost focus on the slow burning romance between her heroine and her lover (ie. Florentina and Maddie) whilst keeping our focus secondary on the evolving conspiracy which is shadowing round them.

And yet, what was most beautiful of all is the gift Alessandro gave to Maddie – because he saw her self-worth and her keen head for business, he rewarded her in a way she never felt she’d be able to embrace. It was such a wicked humbling moment because Maddie would never believe she should highlight her skills in front of others as I think she would believe that would be a bit too vain and to have her seen as worthy in his eyes was quite lovely because this was something I felt would help Maddie recognise how much she gives to others as much as how much she has stablised her own family after the death of her husband.

I was not quite prepared for how Secrets of Milan concludes because it owns to the title – wherein there are far more secrets afloat in the series now than there were previously! Including one that I felt would be difficult for Florentina to maintain as it might drive a wench in her relationship with Maddie – time will of course tell in that regard but for me personally, I loved how this one concluded because it honed in on the heart of the series – giving us more time to spend with Florentina and Maddie as their relationship drew closer together and allowed us further chance to peer into this hidden dark world Florentina is bent on exposing. Towards that end, the tenacles of how this secret world interacts with society is more intricate than a spider’s web and far more deadlier than a black widow.

-quoted from my book review for Secrets of Milan

If you haven’t yet seen the lovely in-depth #behindthebook featured guest essay Ms Lane contributed to my stop on her tour with OWI – kindly take a moment to visit her words to find out how Art History and research into the world of art played such a strong role in how she developed the background of this series! This previous blog tour was a bit of a preview of what would come next during the Tomorrow Comes Media tour – I was thankful to be a part of both tours and have the chance to feature this author on three separate occasions whilst helping to relate to my readers why I am enjoying her stories and why they ought to consider placing her trilogy on their #nextreads list!

Secrets of Milan (Interview)
Subtitle: Book Two of the Night Flyer Trilogy
by Edale Lane
Illustrator/Cover Designer: Enggar Adirasa
Source: Direct from Author

The Night Flyer had brought Florentina and Madelena together but now threatens to drive them apart. While Florentina searches for a mysterious underworld organization that has attempted to murder the woman she loves, Maddie struggles to deal with the danger Florentina is courting. Her brother, Alessandro, has become the most prominent merchant of Milan, but the Night Flyer uncovers a secret so shocking it could destroy them all.

Secrets of Milan is the second book in Edale Lane's Night Flyer Trilogy, a tale of power, passion, and payback in Renaissance Italy. If you like drama and suspense, rich historical background, three-dimensional characters, and s romance that deepens into true love, then you'll want to continue the Night Flyer saga. Order your copy today!

Genres: Fantasy Fiction, Feminist Historical Fiction, Historical-Fantasy, LGBTQIA Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 979-8643642060

Also by this author: Merchants of Milan, (Video) Interview feat. Edale Lane (Merchants of Milan), Secrets of Milan (Guest Post by Author), Secrets of Milan

Published by Past & Prologue Press

on 5th May, 2020

Format: Unbound Manuscript (ARC)

Pages: 262

The Night Flyer trilogy:

Merchants of Milan (book one) | see also Review

Secrets of Milan (book two) | see also Review

Chaos in Milan (book three) *forthcoming release!

Genre(s): Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Alternative History,
as well as Renaissance (time period), Action and Adventure, Superhero Fiction

Identities represented: F/F Romance, Lesbian friendship/relationships

Converse via: #WyrdAndWonder, #HistoricalFantasy, #SapphicFiction,
#SpeculativeFiction, #LGBTQ and #NightFlyerTrilogy with #EdaleLane

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