The Tower on the Pendant

A bell tower without a bell, etched on a golden pendant, distinguished by uneven ribbing below its belfry of asymmetrical arches - an heirloom passed down through four generations of Prestons. Rarely did a day go by that the pendant, held by a fine golden chain, did not grace its current owner, Savina Preston, a businesswoman who relished a job that took her around the world. The travel was her gift to herself, both for having survived a past devastation and to brace for the life-altering challenge she would face in the too-near future. But all thoughts of travel and challenges melted away as she stood in the lobby of an Italian hotel, transfixed by a color photo of her tower on a glossy travel brochure. As her stunned mind grasped that the tower wasn't simply an artist's fancy, Savi understood she would do whatever it took to find it, set hands on it, before leaving Italy. Abandoning her usual caution, she set out alone to an Umbrian hill town adorned at its crest by a Florentine nobleman's prized possession – a villa named Fioralba. Entering the villa among tourists, Savi encounters a stunning revelation, one which teams her with the Boneti brothers, Fioralba's custodians, on a quest for answers to two family mysteries, half a world apart. Finding those answers in time will shape Fioralba's future and forever change their lives.