Can love truly conquer all?
When a vicious attack leaves Paul in a coma on his wedding day, the doctors fear he will never wake up. But his fiancée Fran will never give up hope.
Fran has always known Paul is the only man for her, from the first moment they locked eyes as children to the day he finally told her he loved her. Paul can’t leave her, not now their lives are just about to begin.
Love will always find a way … won’t it?
Almost Forever
Laura Danks
ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES
Contents
LAURA DANKS
was born and raised in Italy and studied Classics in Milan, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Indiana Jones, her childhood hero. Instead of treasure hunting, in 2001 she moved to London and worked in Online Advertising, a fifteen-year career she decided to give up to write full-time.
She now lives in a two-hundred-year-old cottage near Cambridge with her husband, her two kids, Hugo the cat and a typewriter.
Author’s Note
Born as a homage to the tragic love between Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini from Dante’s Divina Commedia – Inferno, Canto V, this story has taken a deeper and more personal significance when my father suffered a stroke and suddenly the emotions I committed to paper were actually very real and familiar.
My dad is recovering well, but 15 million people around the world suffer a stroke every year and many are not quite as fortunate. So I decided to dedicate this book to them and their families, and donate part of my royalties to the Stroke Association (www.stroke.org.uk) to support their tireless work and research.
A special mention also goes to an amazing young writer, Jemima Layzell, who died of a ruptured giant aneurysm and donated her organs to eight people. Her poignant quote beautifully introduces Paul and Francesca’s story. For more information about Jemima, her book The Draft and her charity please visit: www.jemimalayzell.com.
Firstly, to everyone who bought a copy of this book, thank you for supporting my fundraising effort, it’s an extremely worthy cause.
Thank you also to Pete, for his unshakable support, I couldn’t have done it without you.
To Suzanne and Debbie, thank you for your patience with my ‘first draft’ and its many iterations.
To my family in Milan, grazie for cheering me on, even if my work may never be translated into Italian.
Thank you to all the caring and kind friends, who forgave me for disappearing into the world of editing for months on end.
And last, but not least, a sincere thank you to my editor, Hannah Smith, and the team at HarperCollins, who helped shape my manuscript into a heart-warming tale of love, hope and courage.
To Dad and Zio Roby – two very brave men.
Anyway I need to write what I think and feel.
Not all that you see here actually ‘happened’ but it’s still very real to me.
I don’t care if I let my imagination run away with me!
Plenty of brilliant artists and writers were mad! …
People still loved them and their work just the same.
And I want to be loved too.
I almost feel as though I will never live long enough
to become an author, to be married and have a family.
The Draft, Jemima Layzell