It is there that she collaborates, among other things, in the restoration of Greek manuscripts or even works that belonged to… Darwin. “It was fascinating! I had in my hands works which had belonged to him and which he had consulted. Sometimes I even worked on letters which dated from the 19th century, which contained specimens of hair and which had been sent for identification to the naturalist And then, it was comical to discover Darwin’s obsession with pigeons!
This work and the contracts that followed fueled a growing passion for books, in all their dimensions. “It was captivating to see the materials used, to see how it was written, to learn the story of the people who helped make it happen. I was doing exciting work, collaborating on exciting projects.”
Brexit and Covid then push Cecilia and her husband to return to the country. “We were based in Durbuy and I stayed felt an immense emptiness. My work was my whole life, I was on the move all the time. From one day to the next, I found myself with nothing.”
“A breath of oxygen”
A first pregnancy then put her on the path to writing. “I had always written short texts, but I had never attempted a novel. I then challenged myself to write a real story. I took out the leaflets collected during our travels and The Book of Esperensis saw the light of day. It offered me a real breath of fresh air, a relief and all the escape I needed!”
The continuation of Book of Esperensisin two volumes, has already been written.
Furthermore, a fourth book is almost finished. It tells the story of an elderly lady who spends her days on buses, to escape loneliness after the death of her husband. An anecdote heard during a trip. And as she does with everything she does, Cecilia wrote this story with passion and commitment, sometimes taking the bus for four hours straight, to better immerse herself. She also experienced some very funny situations there. It is again under the cover of a beautiful story tinged with humor that Cecilia wants to make us think about issues such as loneliness, Alzheimer’s disease and Italian immigration.
Well-being prize 2024
But another piece of good news has arrived. “In January 2024, I submitted a text to the writing competition organized by Éditions Jouvence, Librinova and Pocket. And then I forgot.” A few months later, she received a call. His work Just a cherry on the cake received the Well-being 2024 prize. An auspicious recognition for this second novel and a great destiny to come. A prize in which she finds a little more legitimacy and which gives her confidence to continue on this path and who knows, one day, to truly be able to make a living from her writing.
