I have been listening to 'The Wedding Officer' and have found it profoundly moving. My husband and I visited Naples last October, so that he could fulfil a lifelong wish to visit Herculaneum and Pompeii. We loved the area, found the ruins astounding and were quite surprised to enjoy being in Naples. Your story is so vivid, I was mentally walking round the city again. I knew nothing about the 1944 eruption but, a few moments ago, I watched a 1944 Pathé News film on http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/Vesuvius.html That reminded me of another disaster in the area - the earthquake of 1980. A friend of ours, John Campbell, was then the Consul-General for Campania, and co-ordinated British aid. He was also a Captain in Popski's Private Army, fighting behind enemy lines ahead of the regular forces, as they fought their way north in Italy, in 1944. I have just bought a copy of your wonderful novel for him, which I know will stir vivid memories for John, now 90, and his wife. Elizabeth H.

How wonderful - I do hope he enjoys it! Best, Anthony

Good Afternoon! Has The Wedding Officer been translated into German?

I don''t believe it has, no. The Food of Love was translated into German (bizarrely, they also translated my name to Antonia Capella!)

Just read "The Food of Love" -- the one with a line drawing of a women sitting at a table-for-two on the front. Loved the book. Couldn't put it down although many times I had to just to catch my breath! Now I'm on a mission to buy copies for my 4 best friends but having no luck. How can I get copies? Marina

Hi Marina,

Presumably you''re in the USA? I see that Amazon.com have plenty of stock. Best, Anthony

HI ANTHONY....JUST DISCOVERED YOUR WONDERFUL BOOKS WHILST HERE IN SOUTH AFRICA FOR SON'S OPERATION.REDISCOVERED THE LIBRARY.WHAT JOY, AND THE LIBRARIAN SUGGESTED I READ ALL YOUR BOOKS.SO HAPPY TO HAVE DONE SO....AND LOOK FORWARD TO THE ICECREAM BOOK..WILL READ AND EAT VANILLA ICECREAM WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE.....YOU ARE THE BEST.THANK YOU SO MUCH. COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON TO YOU AND YOURS STEPHANIE

Hi Stephanie, many thanks. I hope your son''s operation turned out well. I always wanted to write the sort of books people want to reread when they''re feeling low, so if I''ve succeeded for you, that''s great.

Dear Anthony, I am sure I've seen a copy of Food of Love in Italian, but I can't remember the title. I want to buy it for an Italian friend for Christmas, can you let me know if it exists? I may have been hallucinating books again. Thank you! Lucy

Hi Lucy - unfortunately The Food of Love isn''t available in Italian (although The Empress of Ice Cream and The Various Flavours of Coffee will be available in translation next year). 

Dearv Anthony I have read all of your books and I would ike to know if there will be a new novel soon ? Anna Poole

Hi Anna, I''m actually writing something a little different at the moment. I do have a plot for the next ''food and love'' novel but it''s just finding the time! So I''m afraid there''s unlikely to be another book out in 2012.... Apologies.

Are the film rights available for Food Of Love? I know they sold in 2009 but is it in turn around? I am interested, love the book. Thanks.

Hi, please contact my agent Yasmin McDonald at AP Watt - details in the ''Contact'' section.

Hi Anthony, this is not really a question, more like a small remark. I am a huge fan of your work and not by coincidence the Hungarian translator of some of them. The publishers I work for bought the rights for "the Wedding Officer", "The Various Flavours of Coffee" and the "Empress of Ice Cream" solely by my recommendation - "The Food of Love" having been published by someone else. I've already finished "The Coffee Book" as we tend to call it, my absolute favourite (hopefully to be released in Hungary early next year), and am now working on "The Empress of Ice Cream". While browsing your website for a possible interpretation of the Wallace Stevens lines, I was happy to discover that "Chemistry for Beginners" is now available in Europe. I got it from Amazon, read it and thoroughly enjoyed it, already fretting over some of the science, from the translator's point of view, who also happens to be an arts graduate herself. And - after this rather long-winded intro - here I come to my remark. Being Hungarian, and thus in (almost) full possession of this obscure and rather intriguing and exasperating language I can in total certainty say that Whoosh! does not mean "ugly pig" - or anything else for that matter - in Hungarian, italics and exclamation mark notwithstanding. Wishing you all the best with your future work - btw - is there anything to look forward to? Reka

Dear Reka,

thank you so much for a lovely note, and a thousand apologies for my unnecessarily glib and inaccurate joke about Whoosh. The truth is that I wanted to make a joke about brand names meaning unexpected things in other countries - the translation of the slogan  ''Coke adds life'' meaning ''Coke resurrects ancestors'' in Chinese is a well-known one - and I was too lazy to find a word which really did have a double meaning. I''m afraid I assumed that no Hungarian was ever likely to read it...

Do get my email address from the ''Contact'' section and email me direct if you have any questions about your translation, incidentally.  I hope you found the Q&A reference to Stevens.

It''s nice to have a translator who writes such well-crafted English, by the way! 

Anthony

Dear Anthony, I've read both The Food Of Love, and The Wedding Officer and loved them both. My wife and I have visited Italy twice and love the country. Do you have any plans for writing any more books set in Italy? All your Italian characters are so rich and intriguing. Best wishes for all your future works. A big fan, Julio

Hi Julio - I''m sure I will one day, but whether it will be the next book I don''t know. I''m quite interested in Italian emigrant communities at the moment.....

Hello mr. Capella. Yesterday, I finished reading Empress of the Ice Cream, which I have to say was an excellent read, even more because here in Greece it is summer time so it fitted perfectly. The ice creams Demirco made were refreshing to think of. I just have one complain...why did you do that to por Demirco? Couldn't Louise love him? All regards Steph

Hi Steph - glad you liked the Empress of Ice Cream. My publishers asked me the same question about the lead characters...  I have to be a bit careful how I answer, as I don''t want to give away the ending to people who haven''t read the book yet, but in a nutshell, I wanted to be true to what''s known of Louise''s life and history, and that includes staying with the king. Hopefully by the end of the book we understand why she (and Carlo) behave the way they do, and why they make the choices they make. Besides, if you recall, she says she does love him......