I have always liked writing. I always wrote food reviews, articles of interest, mostly related to my profession and short stories when I was a child. However in the nineties I wrote my first novel, The Warm War and since then have penned a few. Half My Life, a book of memories and ramblings over nearly 70 years and my most recent, The Hotel Manager. My latest novel The Actor, The Barrister and The Dropout was relesased on the 24th January (see below).
THE HOTEL MANAGER — A SYNOPSIS
In 1861, France accepted the existence of the Principality of Monaco. In exchange for the majority of its territory, France took on the responsibility of the defence of Monaco’s remaining lands. In 1922, Louis II became the Prince of Monaco. While he was known to be strongly pro-French and had seen military service with Philippe Pétain, Louis II kept Monaco out of the war largely because the majority of the population of his principality was of Italian descent and was pro-Italy. In November 1942, Italian troops invaded the small neutral country and set up a puppet administration. When Italy signed an armistice with the Allies, German troops entered Monaco’s borders. Monaco was home to about 300 Jews prior to the German occupation, and it was hosting an unknown number of Jewish refugees; some of them were deported to concentration camps. French troops returned to Monaco in late 1944.*
Before the war Monaco and especially Monte Carlo had been the chosen party venue for film stars, like Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Alec Guinness, Bing Crosby and of course many others; even Winston Churchill used to go to gamble at the Casino. There were plenty of luxury hotels for guests to stay in, the Hermitage, The Metropole and the Hotel du Paris. There was also the Bristol Majestic Hotel owned by my Great Uncle Mario Davico and his brother. It is said that this hotel was taken over by the Italians and the Germans, for billeting officers and for their HQ, while they occupied the Principality.
This story is ‘facticious’; relying on some existing facts and imaginary fiction. It recounts the feats of many who lived and worked there during the occupations and the part some played in resistance fighting and the hiding and moving of Jews who had made, what they thought was their safe home in virtual paradise.
Most of the characters in the book are made up, although there are a few who were real and who played a part in history and based on research, are portrayed as accurately as possible within the confines of the novel.
I hope I have captured the atmosphere that existed during this time and that you will find the journey that some of our protagonists took, over a period of more than one hundred years, up until the years of the 2000’s, interesting and heart warming.
We follow the lives of the Nicol family from their humble beginnings as farmers turn wine makers in the 1900’s to their children Richard and Antoine who take over the wine business and go in to business with the owner of an hotel in Monte Carlo and invest and develop it until the Italians and the Germans take it over during the war and attempt to destroy it when they leave.
We see the introduction of Richard’s children who after the war get involved in the rebuilding of the Bristol Majestic and the subsequent success and further expansion of the fledgling group.
Despite the problems that occur with this family over a period of years, their stoicism and determination build a solid base that everyone shares in. We see our protagonists through their love lives, marriages, children, businesses, divorces, deaths, highs and lows but in the end ‘Work Comes First’ and that’s what makes the Nicol’s family the success they were from 1920 to 2030
Julie was just fifteen years old when she became pregnant by a Caribbean boy a few years older than her, after a one night stand. She lived in Tottenham, London in the late fifties and was part of a fairly dysfunctional family with an abusive father to boot. Abortion in those days was not an option; adoption was the only possible solution. Much to her despair she found that she was carrying triplets.
But triplets of mixed race were going to be difficult to place; it was therefore obvious to the officials concerned, that the chances of them all being placed together was unlikely. Therefore, suitable families were found to adopt the children. Our story follows the families and the children as they reach adulthood. How would they fare? Would they know that they were part of a family and miss their siblings or would they never know? Nurture or nature? Who will become the Actor? Who the Barrister? And who the Dropout? Emotional, humorous and heart warming this book gives you an insight into attitudes, morals and the liberated life of the sixties and seventies with the ambitions, and intentions, of the individuals concerned and the trials and tribulations of life from a different perspective.
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