The Baron's Daughter

“★★★★★ “Masterfully written historical fiction.””

— Amazon review

A love forbidden. A truth buried. A nation on the brink.

1915, southern Italy. Angelina Ruffolo, the daughter of a powerful baron, yearns for more than a life of quiet obedience. But her family's plans don’t include Paolo—the soft-spoken gardener whose radical ideals and quiet courage have captured her heart. When Paolo is wrongly accused of murder in a failed attempt to halt Italy’s march into war, Angelina is thrust into a world of secrets, lies, and deadly consequences.

As Paolo is forced from prison to the front lines, and Angelina risks everything to uncover the truth, their bond is tested by betrayal, shifting allegiances, and the brutal tide of war. From the olive groves of Calabria to the blood-soaked trenches of the Isonzo, The Baron's Daughter weaves a tale of impossible choices, unwavering hope, and a love that refuses to be silenced.

Step into a sweeping historical novel where romance and resistance collide.

Read The Baron’s Daughter today.

Excerpt from the book

Maida, Italy - March 1915

Angelina Ruffolo resided on her family’s expansive estate in the picturesque town of Maida, a hidden gem in the southern reaches of Calabria, Italy. Her father, the esteemed Barone Giuseppe Ruffolo, commanded respect and admiration, while her mother, Maria, was renowned as the most enchanting woman in Maida. However, as Angelina blossomed into her teenage years, a storm brewed between mother and daughter. At just sixteen, Angelina found herself in constant conflict with Maria, feeling the weight of her mother’s lofty expectations pressing down on her.

Though Angelina was undeniably pretty, she knew she could never match her mother’s breathtaking beauty. Surprisingly, this didn’t trouble her; in fact, she preferred it that way. To Angelina, her mother’s allure was not a blessing but rather a burden, for whenever people met Maria, they overlooked the woman behind the captivating looks. Thus, Angelina came to see her mother’s beauty more as a curse than an asset.

A natural introvert, Angelina had once enjoyed the company of friends in her younger years, but as time passed, she slowly pushed them away one by one. It wasn’t that she disliked the other girls—some she cherished deeply—she simply valued her solitude more. Nowadays, her favorite pastimes consisted of diving into books and weaving daydreams of a future that promised escape from the confines of Maida, drawing her toward the allure of America.

When she wasn’t lost in the pages of her books, Angelina envisioned a life far removed from her small town. Her knowledge of America came solely from literature—she devoured the works of Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and her beloved Mark Twain. She read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn so often that the pages began to fray. To her, America was a place of adventure and opportunity, a vivid landscape painted by Twain’s words, and she longed to experience it for herself.

This yearning for America became the crux of the battles between Angelina and Maria. Maria argued that commoners fled to America out of desperation, seeking a better life only to find themselves ensnared in poverty. Nobles, she insisted, had a duty to their people and their town; everything they needed lay just outside their door. But as Angelina gazed out of her bedroom window, she felt a deep conviction that her mother was mistaken. Adventure awaited her beyond the horizon, and she was determined to seize it.

The hilly town of Maida, with its rising and falling landscape and endless picturesque shoreline, was one of the most beautiful places on earth, but Angelina only saw an old, tired, boring town that she feared she might never leave. From her bedroom, she looked down on the decaying houses, uninteresting people, and the crumbling 11th-century Norman castle in the distance—a reminder of how old her town truly was.

“Angelina!” Maria’s voice echoed through the house, powerful and commanding. When she called, people jumped to attention, and if she had to repeat herself, irritation brewed. But Angelina was lost in a daydream, envisioning a life far more thrilling than her own, one filled with excitement and adventure akin to the tales in her beloved Mark Twain novels.