The Light in the Ruins | 
“Brilliantly crafted…Will tear your heart out.” - The Washington Post.
It was 10 years ago this week that my Tuscan-set novel of a serial killer and the ghosts of WW2 was published: THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS. (The pen is from Florence: I used it on tour.) @DoubledayBooks
Always honored when a reader chooses a line from one of my books for a tattoo.
Hard to believe it was nine years ago this month that THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS was published.
pickChris has such a great ability to turn a story. It‘s WWII historical fiction that‘s really a 1955 murder mystery. The reader knows who lives and who dies before the telling of an actual death. I think that adds to the storytelling because I‘m not gutted by a character‘s death when it comes time to describe it. ↓
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
It was on this weekend in 1944 that the Allies liberated Rome. I chronicled the war in Italy in my 2013 love story — that, yes, also has a serial killer — THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS. Incidentally, I am always honored when readers have a line from one of my novels tattooed on to them. Thank you.
6 years ago this week THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS was published. The novel began as a re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet set in Tuscany in World War 2 and grew into a tale of a serial killer and an Italian family's collaboration with the Nazis — and the price they'll pay years later.
My plans for the day 🖤
Thanks so much @Born.A.Reader for the book 😘
I love my Norwegian publisher. This new edition of THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS is just one more reason why!
Five years ago this month, this novel was published: a tale of a doomed love affair and a serial killer, set in the heart of Tuscany between 1943 and 1955. Deepest thanks to Jenny Jackson and the teams at Doubleday Books and Vintage Anchor.
"The Apprentice Work of Chris Bohjalian." NOT KIDDING! This is the oldest short story I wrote that is still in existence. I wrote it in fifth grade and found it today in an old box that had been my father's. This is the first page. Note the very impressive penmanship. Someday I will share all (gulp) nine pages. (My lovely bride just read it and said, "Wow, that's dark. How come no one called the school psychiatrist?") #amwriting #grateful #1972
It was on this date in 1944 that the Allies liberated Florence from the Nazis. I took this photo of the magical city from the bell tower beside the duomo while researching my 2013 novel, "The Light in the Ruins," which is set in Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. My deepest thanks always to the wonderful teams at @DoubledayBooks and Vintage Books.
It was four years ago this month that THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS was published, a World War Two love story set in Tuscany and Florence...with a serial killer. My deepest thanks always to Jenny Jackson, Todd Doughty, Judy Jacobs, John Pitts, Suzanne Herz, Bill Thomas, Anne Messitte, Jen Marshall, and the wonderful teams at Vintage Books and @DoubledayBooks . Thank you.
"And why did I slice open her nightgown? I didn't violate her. It was so I could cut out her heart. A woman with the lilting name of Francesca Rosati, who had once been a Tuscan marchese's daughter-in-law, was my first. But, as you will see, not my last." So ends the prologue to THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS. Beside the novel? The pen I used while editing it.
pickI enjoyed the story, but something about the reading made me sleepy, which isn't a good thing when you're driving! I might have done better to actually read it. Still it is an interesting perspective on WWII that we don't usually get.
“During the war, I promised the dead I would never forget them. I stared at them, barely able to move myself. Pretended I was one of them. To this day I can recall the light in the ruins.” -- The paperback edition is on sale this weekend at Amazon.
pickI just finished this bittersweet mystery in the park on a bizarrely warm winter day. There's a murder mystery with a good twist investigated by a pioneering female detective, but it's really a book about WW II in Italy and the various betrayals there-military, familial & curatorial. Fascism left real and symbolic scars. #mystery #history #richsetting #femaledetective #WWII
Not sure I signed quite enough books last night at Books & Co. in Dayton, Ohio. #TheLightInTheRuins #TheSleepwalker #TheGuestRoom #TheDoubleBind #Midwives #TheSandcastleGirls
This never gets old. Thank you, Barnes & Noble, for your faith in my work. Color me grateful. Just signed these at your S. Burlington, VT store.
