Why There, of All Places?

After hundreds of emails from my devoted average Italian readers persistently asking “why there?” — it seemed worth explaining.

This novel is set in the places that have stayed with me most (yes, I have a heart). Places I was lucky enough to visit, for work and for pleasure: Svalbard, during my scientific missions in the Arctic Circle, and Australia.

The thing that fascinated me most, above everything else, was the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard. The last refuge for the seeds of our planet. The only place in the world where, even in the event of a catastrophe, seeds can be saved.

It sounds like science fiction. It isn’t. It’s all real, and all underground.

Photo by Frode Ramone from Oslo, Norway