The author, Mcaldwell Hunter was here in Barga this week working on his latest book which has the working title of The Shield and the Ship and is the sequel to his first book, The Forgotten Templars.
He left Barga to return to his native Scotland on Tuesday but managed to stay for only 13 hours in his house before once more retracing his steps back to Barga.
A train to Glasgow airport, a flight to Stansted airport, a night spent waiting in the airport lounge, a flight to Pisa, a bus to Lucca and another on to Barga and finally Mcaldwell Hunter was standing once more outside his house in Barga Vecchia.
And the reason for his 4500 km round trip?
He had locked the door of his cantina when he left with his nearby neighbours cat sleeping soundly unseen inside.
As you can hear in the short interview with Mcaldwell, he was tired by extremely happy to have resolved the problem in double quick time.
And the grey cat seems to just take it all in its stride.
A new book has just been published on the Internet – The Forgotten Templars by Mcaldwell Hunter – a new name to the publishing world … it is in fact his first novel but once again the idea that Aristo’s bar in Barga Vecchia is the unofficial cultural centre of the city takes another step forward as Mcaldwell Hunter could be seen at various times over the last couple of years tapping out parts of his novel whilst sitting at the bar.
As he says on the website The Forgotten Templars : He had worked for the past 30 years in the health service in the UK, 20 of them as a Paramedic.
The novel had appeared and reappeared, both hand written and typed but until recently was never a fully finished work, possibly this was the time to finish and publish.
Most of the novel was written in the town of Barga in northern Tuscany, Italy over the period of two summers, during holiday visits therefore the actual writing time was somewhat less.
The book can be bought on line at Amazon Kindle here
In 1314 Jaques de Molay was burnt at the stake, there ended the story of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon, usually spoken of as Knights Templar. But what made the King of France and The Pope want to destroy them.
Was it just greed for their land and monies? Or was there a more sinister reason?
Tales of a lost Templar fleet abound to this day, but these are all just myths, are they not?
De Molay had organised the removal of all the Templar artefacts in Europe, treasure included, and had left this task in the hands of the very capable De Courcy.
This fleet sailed out of the Mediterranean and into legend never to be seen or heard from again. No trace has ever been found. Until now.
Drew DeBleek was working on a dig in Israel when he received an e-mail from his old Professor. What he saw would transform his life and lead to him being hunted by powers that wanted what he would now start looking for. This group were more powerful than anyone realised and had been looking far longer than Drew, for they all knew the legends were true.These people were now his adversaries. Where could he find the help he needed?
Why was he allowed to find the Manuscript? The answer was a complete shock to him.
He found people who he could trust with his life. Willing to die to keep him alive. What fate awaited Drew and his loyal friends?
Many years after De Molay’s execution, after travelling with their families, three aged Knights presented themselves to Teutonic Knights telling of their long lives in Outreamer but when they or their families were asked about De Courcy or any Templar treasure always they would answer,
“It is hidden, God help the Church of Rome if the truth is told.” – source