Whenever I’m writing a book, I create a playlist of music that transports me to the time and place and feeling of the novel. For The Echoes of Love, my next novel that will publish on 6 December, I very much enjoyed immersing myself in Italian music, especially the romantic songs.

Today, I’m sharing with you one of the songs that features twice in the book, at times of great emotional impact for my hero, Paolo, and heroine, Venetia: once during their first chance encounter, and the next time when they dance. It is, if you like, their song, symbolic of how the world falls away when they are together. The song is ‘Il Cielo in una Stanza’,  sung by Mina, which translates to ‘The Sky in a Room’. I love the opening:

Quando sei qui con me
questa stanza non ha più pareti
ma alberi,
alberi infiniti
quando sei qui vicino a me
questo soffitto viola
no, non esiste più.
Io vedo il cielo sopra noi

When you are here with me
This room doesn’t have walls any more
But trees
Infinite trees
When you are here near me
This ceiling breaks
No, it doesn’t exist any more.
I see the sky above us

Mina,  ‘Il Cielo in una Stanza’ (1960)