Tales From The Hamlet by Cassandra Campbell-Kemp

“This is a charming book – a quirky travelogue written by a somewhat eccentric middle-aged English lady. She invites you to share her extraordinary experiences as she explores a little-known area of Italy, introducing you to stunning terrain, surprisingly welcoming people and mouth-watering food. 

WARNING don’t read this book when you are hungry!”

At the age of 61, Cassandra, a single and peripatetic Brit, was asked to pack up her house and move to Italy to take up the offer of a much-needed job. 15 months later she was made redundant, leaving her unnerved, broke and unable to return home. Her dream of a new life was rapidly turning into a nightmare and saddled with all her belongings, her antique furniture, over 800 books and her aged Siamese cat she had nowhere to go.

A kind friend offered them sanctuary in a tiny converted barn in his family’s ‘Borgo’, a cluster of rustic properties grouped around a late-Medieval manor house in the mountains; the beautiful and mysterious Emilian Apennines of north Italy. There she was befriended and watched over by the owner; and eccentric octogenarian, his household ghosts and 14 semi feral cats. 

The experience proved to be challenging yet deeply transformative as she struggled to recover her equilibrium and rebuild her life. 

About the author

Cassandra is a somewhat eccentric, unconventional and fiercely independent woman of pensionable age. Formerly an international real estate executive she travelled widely, living and working in various European countries - including Italy, Greece and Spain. During her time in Europe she fell in love with the countries, their cultures, the people and the food! She learnt several languages and spent all her spare time exploring.

Now happily retired, she lives alone with her rescue cat, Felix, in a quintessential 17th century English cottage where she writes about her 30 years of adventures. Her first book, ‘Cauliflowers through the Catflap and other tales from a solitary lockdown’ is a humorous and very tongue-in-cheek look at her experiences of shielding alone through the Covid pandemic. Her second book, ‘Tales from the Hamlet’, is a heartwarming tale of what happened when, living in Italy, she was unexpectedly made redundant and saddled with all her antique furniture, over 800 books and an elderly Siamese cat, she had no money to return home and nowhere to go.