Mission: Escapism Nicky Spreads Love & Laughter

The Writer Shares Her Novel Secret to Staying Positive

- Donna Fleming

When the Weekly’s books editor Nicky Pellegrino started writing her 11th novel, A Dream of Italy, she wanted it to be upbeat and happy – an antidote to the grim things in life.

“I wanted to write something I wanted to read, something that’s not negative and dark. There’s enough of that in the world and when I need to be cheered up or just escape for a while, I like to read something that’s uplifting.”

Of course, the UK-born, Auckland-based author had no idea when she was plotting A Dream of Italy two years ago that it would be released just days after New Zealand suffered one of the most tragic events in its history – the Christchurch mosque terror attacks.

“It really has been our darkest day, and I feel like in the aftermath of what’s happened, we all need to read books or watch TV shows and movies that are positive and build our spirits up because we need to stay strong and we need to stay sane,” says Nicky (54), who, like the rest of the nation, was deeply shocked at the horrific March 15 attack on innocent people.

“It’s not about running away from what is happening or denying what is going on in the world, but it is giving us a break for a short time, which helps us to keep on going.”

While she was writing the novel, the world was upended by the election of Donald Trump as the US president and by the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

“There was lots of panic going on and I wanted to write a novel that would take people away from it. I get a lot of emails from readers, and the ones I appreciate getting the most are where someone will say, ‘I’ve been having a really bad time at work,’ or, ‘I’ve been convalescing from a horrible illness and your book took me away from what was happening.’