Romeo and Juliet Fans Read Silence…

…I hope. Well, it’s safe to say that someone took the book after I left it on a ledge next to Juliet’s balcony in Verona. Not sure whether the person who took it was a tourist (like me) or a member of staff of one of the many shops surrounding the balcony, or one of the actors I saw playing the scene (in Italian) while I was there.

This is another step in the Silence conquers the world plan. Or my own version of Book Crossing which I started doing before I found out there was a name for it. I suppose there is a difference between me leaving new copies of my own book with messages to potential readers and someone leaving used copies of books they’ve read for other people to enjoy and pass on. I quite like the idea of someone finding my book like that and maybe there is a potential for book crossed lovers.

Last year I left a copy in Amsterdam (in a lesbian bar called Sappho’s) and earlier this year I left a copy at Gregynog when I stayed there for a conference. I’m also planning to send a couple of copies over to friends in America. Every time I visit a new place I try to find somewhere with a fair amount of traffic and leave a copy of my book with a message inside asking the reader to pass it on and let me know what they think. It’s a hard slog to travel around all these wonderful places but someone has to do it!

In case you can’t read it, the message says: Dear Reader, please enjoy my book and pass it on. Josie Henley-Einion. Visit my blog to let me know www.josiehenley.net. This copy was left in Verona, Italy. The messages I left in the other books are along a similar vein.

Here is the book on the ledge in the courtyard where the balcony is situated. This is right next to a plaque which describes why the balcony is famous. I have various doubts about the authenticity of this balcony and its connection to Shakespeare, but nevertheless when visiting Verona this was the place that I decided to leave the book. A few hours later I went back and it was gone.

So if you are the person who took the book, or someone who has had it passed on to them, please let me know as I’d like to work out a map of where they travel to. Also, if you found the book in Amsterdam or Gregynog or anywhere else please let me know that as well!

This obsession with leaving copies of my book in places as a gift for the curious began when I was in Cardiff Crown Court as a juror and found a paucity of reading materials available in the jury areas. As a juror there is a lot of hanging around between court. On my last day there I left a copy of Eight Hours, the third Legend collection in which a story by me appears first (and which had been published just that week), with a message in the front.

While I was at the Juliet balcony I decided to add to the wall of graffiti with a message of my own. If you can’t quite read it, it’s a love heart with an A and J in it.

I do try to be romantic even through my die-hard cynicism, and when in Rome… or Verona anyway.

I could have gone for the authentic Shakespeare and said ‘A plague on both your houses’ but thought maybe that would be discourteous.

I didn’t think to get a photo of the other books I’ve left in various landmarks but will try to remember in future. I do have a gallery of photos of Silence in the shops, from the book launch and when it was selected as Welsh Waterstone’s Book of the Month. Now I’ve added a section on Book Crossing to this.