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Today, I am chatting with author Michael A. Ponzio about his historical novel, The Fortunate Islands, the third book in his Lovers of the Sea series.
Michael’s novels are inspired by his fascination with history and ancestry, imagining the lives his distant ancestors might have lived against the backdrop of real historical events. In The Fortunate Islands, the story ventures into the fourteenth-century Atlantic and the Canary Islands, bringing together medieval exploration, trade, different cultures and a part of history rarely encountered in historical fiction.
Michael joins us today to talk about the inspiration behind the novel, the remarkable voyages that helped shape the story, and the research involved in bringing this little-known medieval world to life.
But first, let's check out The Fortunate Islands
Publisher: Trinacria
Print Length: 366 Pages
Genre: Medieval Historical Fiction
The novel The Fortunate Islands is the third volume of the Lover of the Sea series; however, its story stands alone and the novel can be enjoyed without reading the first two novels of the series.
Aspasia: A Young Woman Forged by Life at Sea- Esmeray, Bastone, and their daughter Aspasia escape the dangers of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, abandoning their Mediterranean trade route. Sailing westward to the edge of the known world, past the Pillars of Hercules, they enter the Atlantic Ocean.
The family thrives on the challenges of life at sea, navigating the powerful ocean currents and fierce winds. After calling at ports down the west coast of Africa, they reach the Canary Islands, and find the lost Genoese colony of Captain Lanzarotto, where they encounter the indigenous Majo people and their fascinating culture.
Even isolated on these remote islands, away from centers of power, her family must deal with rival sea traders, cruel pirates, and the Church's long reach. Surviving these challenges as a family makes their bonds even stronger.
Aspasia matures into a young woman, and with her parents’ guidance, develops into a skilled sailor. Will she choose to keep sailing on the family’s trade ship or settle on the island with the man she loves? Or will Aspasia’s yearning to explore and her longing for discovery lead her to venture even beyond? Adding to the host of dangers, a new threat looms on the horizon—the Black Death.
Your novels grew from your fascination with history, ancestry, and imagining the lives your distant ancestors might have lived. How does The Fortunate Islands fit into your idea of writing what you call “Ancestry Novels”?
I started writing the novels over ten years ago. The first three were set during the time of ancient Rome (the main character's surname is Pontius), the next three during the early Middle Ages (the main character's surname is Pons), and The Fortunate Islands is the third novel of three novels which occur during the 13th and 14th centuries. (The main character's name was Ponzio). Pons (French) and Ponzio (Italian) were derived from Pontius. (Latin), so chronologically, the novel fits well in the ancestry novel series.
Setting a fourteenth-century novel in the Canary Islands takes readers into an aspect of medieval history many may know very little about. What first drew your attention to the islands during this period?
During my research for Lantern Across the Sea, the first novel of the current series, I discovered two events that fascinated me. In 1277, a Genoese fleet made the first commercial trip from the Mediterranean to England since the Roman times (800 years) and about the same time, two Genoese brothers (the Vivaldis) attempted to sail around Africa to India two centuries before the Portuguese. I wanted Bastone, Esmeray, and Aspasia to be part of the attempt to find out what had happened to them.
Aspasia and her family encounter the lost Genoese colony associated with Captain Lanzarotto. What did your research reveal about early European voyages to the Canary Islands, and how much historical evidence survives about Lanzarotto and his presence there?
The historical evidence is scarce, but there are several first-hand records by early explorers that provided valuable information. One explorer recorded numerous words of the now extinct Majo language.
The Majo people and their culture form an important part of the world your characters encounter. How did you research the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, particularly when reconstructing a society from such a distant period?
I visited museums on the island of Lanzarote at those uncovered artifacts. The Spanish monks who arrived recorded much of their culture.
When writing encounters between medieval Europeans and indigenous communities, there is always a danger of viewing one culture entirely through the eyes of another. How did you approach presenting the Majo as people with their own traditions, beliefs, and established way of life?
I tried to put myself “in their shoes” trying to identify with them. One of the early main characters was half Majo and half Genoese, and I envisioned how this person would feel, also.
Medieval sailors entering the Atlantic faced very different conditions from those of the Mediterranean, including powerful currents and winds. As someone with an engineering background, did you find yourself particularly interested in the practical and technical challenges involved in such voyages?
Yes, I was very interested in, for example, the absence of significant tides in the Mediterranean Sea, whereas in the Atlantic Ocean they strongly influenced how sailing ships were navigated. Also, for hours I studied the transition of the sea to the ocean at the Strait of Gibraltar: the currents, the salinity, and other characteristics.
Trade is an important part of the series, but commerce in the medieval world also brought people of different languages, religions, and cultures into contact with one another. What fascinates you most about using merchants and sailors as a way of exploring the interconnected medieval world?
Ponzio Bastone was a real character in history and by the wording of his will, (the original copy is in the archives of Genoa), he was a sailor and likely a merchant. There was a saying; Genoese, therefore a merchant.
You travelled to many of the regions that later became settings for your fiction. When researching The Fortunate Islands, were there any historical discoveries that changed your original plans for the novel or sent the story in an unexpected direction?
There were some discoveries, such as better knowledge of the geography, but nothing that changed the direction of the plot.
Your series mixes fictional family history with genuine places, events, cultures, and historical circumstances. Where do you draw the line between historical evidence and imagination when the surviving record cannot tell you exactly what happened?
I immerse myself into the psyche of the character to be consistent, write dialogue, and describe the characters’ reactions to events. I do take “license” and will compress time, sometimes making an event several months rather than a few years. If a historical event occurred shortly before or after the novel's setting but within the same era, I might include it. I explain this in a table at the end of The Fortunate Islands for the readers.
For readers who pick up The Fortunate Islands without having read the earlier Lovers of the Sea novels, what would you like them to discover about this lesser-known corner of fourteenth-century history — and what might tempt them to go back and explore the rest of the family’s adventures?
The first two books, as “prequels” describe how Bastone and Esmeray met and how both characters develop over the three novels. I believe readers would be interested in reading about their life before Aspasia.
A huge thank you to Michael A. Ponzio for joining us today and sharing the story behind The Fortunate Islands.
It has been fascinating to discover how a combination of ancestry, historical research and real medieval voyages has inspired Michael’s fiction, particularly his exploration of a time and place that many readers may know very little about.
For readers who enjoy historical fiction that ventures beyond familiar settings and introduces them to lesser-known corners of the past, The Fortunate Islands promises a journey of discovery both on land and across the sea.
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Michael A. Ponzio
Have you ever wanted to live in another time and place in history? Have you imagined what it would be like to take the place of an ancestor? Michael A. Ponzio’s lifelong experience reading books on history combined with his love for family has inspired him to bring these visions alive, by writing a series of “Ancestry Novels”.
Since childhood, Mike Ponzio has read books about ancient history. He traded books and stories with his father, Joseph E. Ponzio, and they discussed the origins of the family surname. Mike traveled around the Mediterranean to Europe, Asia, and Africa, visiting many of the locations he would later write about. He continues to travel and write Ancestry Novels which he imagines may have taken place during the lives of ancient ancestors.
Mike met his wife, Anne Davis, in 1975 at a University of Florida karate class. Since that time both have taught Cuong Nhu Martial Arts. With John Burns, they wrote and published six instructional books on martial arts weapons. Mike retired in 2015, after working as an environmental engineer for thirty-seven years. Anne and Mike have raised four sons. They are all engineer graduates, following in the footsteps of their Davis and Ponzio grandfathers.
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See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx