Author of the saga “A Mari Usque Ad Mare” · Aurea Scripta · DualPen Books

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?

I’m Italian, and before being a writer I think of myself as a traveller. I came to writing through travel: I would note down the places, the routes, the stories the past had left behind in them, and at a certain point those notes asked to become a narrative. It was the natural way to give shape to what I had seen and studied. A dog is often my companion — I’m convinced there is no better company for understanding what freedom truly means.

2) What inspired you to write your book?

The idea of following a single Italian family across a century and a half and five continents. I’m fascinated by the way ordinary people are swept up in the great sweep of history: the trade, the colonial wars, the explorations that shaped the modern world. I wanted to begin in an Italian port, Livorno, with a young man who sets sail and leaves everything behind, and from there open a story that reaches New France, Africa, the Indies and the revolutions of Europe. The title itself, “A Mari Usque Ad Mare” — from sea to sea — holds that ambition.

3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?

That no voyage is without scars and no choice is without consequences. Behind the “great history” of routes and empires there are always human beings, with their loves, betrayals and guilt — I think of the branches of the family divided by the slave trade or by war. I would like readers to carry away the human cost of progress, and, alongside it, the strength of family bonds tested by time and by history.

4) What drew you into this particular genre?

A love of travel and of history, together. I believe true history is more gripping than any invention: I chose to set the adventure on solid historical ground — real events and places, from the Lachine massacre to the fall of Quebec, from the Atlantic slave trade to the East India trade. I take great care over the reconstruction, often from notes taken directly on the spot; then I let living, flawed characters move within those events.

5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?

I would choose Carlo, the founder — the one who, in the mid-seventeenth century, leaves Italy and faces the Atlantic crossing. I would ask him whether he would do it again, knowing everything that departure would bring to the generations after him: the fortunes and the fractures, the encounters and the losses. I am drawn to the moment when a single choice opens a destiny that a person can no longer govern.

6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?

We are a small independent publishing house, and rather than chasing big social-media numbers we have relied on our website and on word of mouth. To be honest, what has helped us become known most are the honest reviews of readers and bloggers like you, more than any platform.

7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?

Write about what you truly love, and take the time to know it: go to the places, take notes, check your facts. Patience is worth more than haste. And build each book so that it stands on its own, like a world that holds together — if the first one works, the reader will follow you into the rest.

8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?

The saga continues: the fifth volume, “The Sun and the Cross”, is in production, and volumes six through ten are on the way. The story will reach the threshold of 1800 — the spice route, the shadows of Europe, the revolutions. It is a single arc, ten novels across five generations, yet each volume remains a complete work in its own right.

About the Author

Armand Du Silence is an Italian-born author and a traveller by vocation, standing as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary adventure fiction. His literary work is profoundly influenced by personal explorations, allowing him to imbue his books with a realism and depth rarely found in the genre. He is the creator of the saga “A Mari Usque Ad Mare”, an epic work that explores the ancestral relationship between humanity and the great watery expanses, weaving together themes of courage and discovery. Armand’s writing is characterised by its fast-paced rhythm and meticulous geographical and historical reconstruction, the result of notes taken directly in the field. Beyond his writing, his life revolves around two great passions: travel and dogs.