Aunts have always had a place close to my heart. Long before I was one, they were some of my favourite characters in fiction; a diverse array of extraordinary women – some strict and forbidding, others supportive and comforting and others – always my favourites – riotously glamorous, with a healthy disrespect for rules, regulations and societal norms. Aunts came to prominence in Victorian fiction, opening it to unconventional and vibrant female characters who broke with the maternal norm. Often widowed – or determinedly unmarried – fictional aunts, from Austen and Greene to Wodehouse and JK Rowling, are determined to carve out a life that is uniquely theirs, and while often childless, tend to be deeply involved with nieces and nephews.
Each of my novels has had a strong aunt figure at the heart of the narrative, but the wartime setting of The Enemy of Love created an opportunity to create a true doyenne in Elena Capaldi. Famous cook, matriarch and local star, along with managing the family trattoria, and keeping her sons and grandsons in check, she also fulfils the “great-aunt” role for Sophia. She is both an inspiration for how to live outside the restrictions of Mussolini’s Italy and a supporter and guide through the darkness of war. Irascible and indomitable, she was an absolute joy to write, much as the aunts below are a delight to read.
