Goodbye Forever

Author: Paola Calvetti

As dramatic as La Traviata itself, Goodbye Forever tells the story of three women, Virginia, Olga, and Cecilia, best friends whose lives and destinies are inextricably woven together by death, music, and love. The story opens at Cecilia’s funeral, when Virginia finds Olga’s diary. From this starting point, the novel is told in a series of flashbacks recounting the 40-year friendship between these three women, who shared dreams, adolescent adventures, and Giulio, a man who left Olga to marry Cecilia. In the wake of this betrayal, the three friends part ways. Olga moves to Milan where she becomes a famous set designer for the opera, while Cecilia is overshadowed by Giulio’s career as an orchestra conductor. Virginia remains the steady witness to both lives destroyed by the same man, but one jealously-guarded secret stays hidden in the yellowed pages of Olga’s diary. Goodbye Forever is a novel of heart-breaking poetry and emotion.

Publisher: Bompiani
Publish Date: 2005
Page Count: 203, paperback

Author

Paola Calvetti

Paola Calvetti studied at the Alessandro Manzoni Language School in Milan, where she was born and raised. After graduating with a degree in arts, music, and theater from the University of Bologna, she worked as a performing-arts reporter for La Reppublica newspaper. She created and curated The Dance, a series that focuses on the 20 most important dancers and choreographers of the 20^th century, and has written essays on both music and dance for The Scala Editions, where she was Head of the Press Office from 1993 to 1997. In 1996, she edited the book Riccardo Muti: Ten Years at The Scala. From 1997 to 1999, she was the Chief Press Officer at Baldini & Castoldi Publishing House. She was the Director of Communications of the Fabrizio Ferri Group from 1999 to 2003, and the Director of Communications of the Italian Touring Club from 2003 to 2009. She appeared on Rai3’s Linea Notte con la Rubbrica from 2009 to 2010 with her recommended reading list of love stories. She is currently the Marketing and Communications Director of the new Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Books of Paola Calvetti