A Talent for Trouble

About the Book

‘I began to view the world, not as a safe space that liberated imagination and contentment, but as a hazardous, toxic, risky, no-go area, where every act and decision came with hidden dangers. To protect myself from a dangerous world, I had to become more dangerous.’ A Talent for Trouble is an energetic novel that sparkles with inspiration, irony and, above all, a fierce passion. In this post-modern biography, we meet and live through Eva; a radiant and rebellious dreamer; a provocative, unrelenting personality; with a magnetic charm, and an unquenchable thirst for curiosity, truth and dignity, in a wild world. We first encounter the young Eva as she struggles to adapt to life after losing everything, following her father’s bankruptcy. Not long after leaving school, Eva’s curiosity leads her to a dangerous liaison with a politician, who offers Eva the universe in exchange for her forbidden fruit. Eva’s world, as she discovers, soon becomes a primal minefield of predators. It’s a world of injustice, revenge and the abuse of power, where it must be ferociously fought with dignity, love and truth. As her dreams and security threaten to collapse around her, Eva vows to take control of her destiny. She is constantly forced to reinvent herself and explore her fantasies inside this labyrinthine, upside down, carnivalesque world of intrigue, shimmering, subversive discotheques, escort services, scandals, corruption and life as a devoted army wife. From her high school pranks to her adventures with controversial acquaintances and explosive love affairs, Eva’s life is a raw, emotional display of courage in a post-truth society, where she finds herself at war with cover ups, deceptions and institutional hypocrisy. Beneath the hard exterior of the bold language, there’s a precious and vulnerable side to the narrator, as explored during the climactic scenes with The General; which raises philosophical questions about honor, human nature, welfare, ethics and duplicity. Amid these assaults, Eva’s character, self-belief and spiritual relationship to God remain strong. We are all Eva.

About the Author

Michela Morellato was born in the beautiful Palladian city of Vicenza, Italy, where she was raised by her family of entrepreneurs. Her teenage years and studies were marked by a struggle to adapt to an unfortunate change in domestic prosperity, a refusal to conform to hypocritical traditions and a fierce desire to gain independence and control over her own destiny. With a relentless, single-minded curiosity, Michela explored various career paths in the world of glamour and show business, more notably as a media commentator; turning in many appearances on national television in her native Italy. Her arresting looks, sharp wit and provocative ‘giving it to you straight’ opinions, made her as many enemies amongst the audience, as it did fans and admirers. It was in this carnival society, where she mixed with the beautiful and the grotesque, the famous and the dangerous, the delicious and the disgusting; that she personally encountered and eventually exposed the not uncommon practises of sexual harassment. Indeed Michela, revealed this unpleasant convention to an indifferent Italian media, years before the fashionable #metoo and #timesup movements; long before the Weinstein allegations snaked over and through the Hollywood hills. While ‘Michela Morellato’ may by synonymous in Italy with ‘scandal’, she has always sought to raise awareness about female empowerment, and call it out when she sees it; even in the most unlikely of places. Her recent proposal to ‘Save Juliet’ invited the public and politicians to reflect on the hidden meanings of the tourists’ ‘traditional’ interaction with the Juliet statue in Verona. Michela Morellato remains a controversial but stimulating figure within the Italian media and society. To many more, she is an enigmatic paradox. She currently lives in Colorado with her husband, Adam, and her children Sveva and Ethan.