Clarity – Secrets of a Handbag Excerpt
Do you have an area of your life where you feel absolute clarity?
Clarity is a very good thing. It’s reassuring, it’s precise, it gives you a plan to follow. When you don’t feel clarity, you feel lost, jumbled, and disoriented.
Elisa, the main female character in Secrets of a Handbag, suffers from a desperate lack of clarity about many aspects of her life. The only area she isn’t terribly confused about is her job.
Elisa works as a clerk in Palmieri’s Bookstore, and her job is a crucial part of her life. The bookshop is her lifeline. And even if she doesn’t know yet, Mr. Palmieri is going to become an essential confident and advisor.
Moreover, in a life where she always feels awkward and out of place, her job is the only moment she really feels confident. Especially with children…
Excerpt from Secrets of a Handbag
Elisa
“Elisa!” The scream pierces my eardrums.
A boy and a girl, frozen in the doorway with smiles from ear to ear, interrupt the conversation and run toward me. I get out from behind the counter to greet them. Their mother arrives a few moments later, out of breath and lugging two school backpacks.
“Kids! How many times do I have to tell you not to run away from me! Good morning, Mr. Palmieri. Elisa, it’ so good to see you. I hope you’ll excuse the kids, but they’re so excited. They insisted on coming to see the new arrivals.”
The woman is out of breath. She leaves the backpacks near the door and unbuttons the first two buttons of her coat.
“Mom, you know if we don’t come right away, someone else buys all the best books.” Martina’s voice is muffled as she’s already excitedly rummaging through the bookshelves.
“They’re right.” I open my arms and embrace their mother, Vittoria. “Why don’t you sit while we have a look at the new arrivals? I have something special set aside for my best customers.”
“Hurray!” They cheer in unison.
I go to the backroom and retrieve a little box, then I spend the following forty-five minutes sitting on a carpet in the children’s department, showing Martina a new series of books featuring a bungling little witch as the main character and Riccardo the ultimate findings about space ships and space travels.
Once we are done, their mom’s wallet is a little lighter but the kids are enraptured.
If only all kids were so interested in books. The children leave me so enthused. Every time one of my little readers get passionate about a new genre or book, I feel my work has a meaning. And if all of these projects involving children push just one of them toward reading, I consider myself satisfied.
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Blurb
What if your handbag could talk?
What kind of secrets would she reveal?
What shameful truths would surface from its recesses?
What if a stranger found it; how would they look at it?
And if the handbag is very opinionated, things may become even more complicated.
When Elisa—student and bookseller—leaves her handbag on the bus, her life takes a dramatic turn. The handbag holds every aspect of her life, and without it, she can barely manage even the simplest of tasks.
Diego, a pragmatic, no-nonsense chemist who dislikes complications, finds Elisa’s handbag. He couldn’t be more different from Elisa and can’t wait to return the handbag to its owner so he can go back to his life.
When Elisa and Diego meet, however, things don’t go as planned.
And while Diego tries to keep his distance, everyone (the handbag included) seems determined to put Elisa on his path again and again.
The only ones who don’t seem to agree are Lorena—Diego’s ex-girlfriend—and Marco—aspiring journalist and Elisa’s boyfriend…
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