Welcome To Mary De Gruttola’s Website
The Portal
Drake Greenwood is on Death Row in Polunsky Unit, a maximum-security prison located in Texas. Security is tight at Polunsky. On Execution Day minus 6 at exactly 8:30 a.m. the guard in charge of the onsite cell check indicates the prisoner is in his cell. Anther guard is simultaneously checking all the cells through the CCTV system. Both guards can certify that the prisoner named Drake Greenwood is in his cell at 8:30 am. Then something unimaginable happens! Somewhere between 8:30 a.m. and 8:35 a.m. he disappears from his locked cell. There is no way a Death Row prisoner at Polunsky can escape from a locked cell, and yet Drake Greenwood is nowhere to be found.
Based on a true event, The Marquetry Box tells the story of Valentin Hurlet, a 19-year-old career volunteer in the Belgian army who decides, on a cold winter evening in December 1906, to walk away from the life he loves so much. Valentin is the perfect soldier. According to his superiors he excels in every discipline…… and yet he deserts! Desertion is serious business whatever army you are in. It’s a one-way road. Once you walk down that road, there’s no way back. What are the options for a 19 year-old deserter in 1906? Unless he plans on going into lifelong hiding, there is only one option open for him.: joining the French Foreign Legion.
Available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and Paperback format
Reviews: The Drop of the Hammer
Although a fiction, the Drop of the Hammer has deep roots in events that took place in the Spa-Creppe region of what is now Belgium in the year 1600. A young woman is accused of witchcraft and has to fight for her life and freedom.
One evening, coming home from work, a 45 year old divorcee in Brooklyn switches on her laptop, and finds a picture of a handsome American soldier in her Private Messages.
Reviews for The Epiphany of Geert Vandiest
The Epiphany of Geert Vandiest
Geert Vandiest, a professor of International Relations at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, decides to take a much-needed sabbatical leave—-starting with a fortnight in Brussels. Although, he hasn’t made concrete plans beyond Brussels, he finally decides to go to France. Practically from day one, strange and disturbing things begin to happen to Geert. His first reaction is that he is losing his mind or maybe suffering from a brain tumor. In reality, he has embarked on an adventure that will completely change his life.
Mary De Gruttola is an American writer and author of My Darling Ron and The Drop of the Hammer. Although her novels are fiction, they are deeply rooted in true events ——whether they took place in the 1600s in what is now Belgium or in present day Brooklyn
It is from all this travelling that she draws her inspiration.
Born in a military family, Mary soon caught the travelling bug which stayed with her long after she no longer had a military dependent ID card. The latest count of different addresses where she lived more than 6 months is 40.
Mary graduated from Brooklyn College with a BA in teaching (major) and languages (minor), before going on to Boston University Brussels to obtain a Master in International Relations. She speaks five languages
She now lives in Malta whose straight-line distance is 113 miles (182 kms) from Sicily and 223 miles (359 kms) from Africa.
Coming out on Amazon
Mary De Gruttola’s next Novel
in 2024
The Pharaoh Hound
Check out the first chapter of:
The Epiphany of Geert Vandiest
Do you plan on writing a novel, but there’s a lot of research involved and you have no idea how to even begin?
About Mary De Gruttola
Click below to get started
Your Research Skills are Valuable Tools
Check out the TOOLSHED for writing tips!
Writing a novel is not something that happens spontaneously, Not only is a there a lot of research involved, but you also meet interesting people on the way. I doubt I could have finished The Marquetry Box without the encouragement, help and kindness of the guys on the French Foreign Legion Forum. (https://cervens.net/forum). I therefore thank them for their knowledge, warm welcome, and for the kindness they showed this soldier’s daughter.
Kindle
I am repeatedly asked if my novels also come in Kindle format. By the second week of December 2022 , all four of them will be available on Amazon in both formats—-i.e. Paperback and Kindle. And , of course, I will continue doing so.
The Marquetry Box
A picture of the cover and a summary are now available on my website. I’m busy putting up the first chapter too! Check it out!
Valentin Update
Finally! I have finally finished Valentin’s story and, as planned months ago, it is entitled The Marquetry Box. Just got an email from Amazon confirming it was getting published and would soon be available on all their sites.
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
The Joys of Writing 