"With searing honesty, Donna Keel Armer sweeps us along on a sun- kissed, soul-stretching journey of discovery. Her lyrical descriptions, as vibrant as postcards, capture the beauty and spirit of the ancient village in Salento that healed her heart. A life-affirming vicarious voyage that captures the magic of Italy and the joys of coming into one's true self."
-DIANNE HALES, author La Bella Lingua, Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered, La Passione: How Italy Seduced the World, Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity
"A captivating joy for armchair travelers and a balm for wounded souls, Donna Keel Armer's empowering memoir transports us into the wonders of southern Italy on a pilgrimage of healing and self-discovery. Armer writes with the spirit of a born storyteller, inviting readers to linger in her language and champion her voyage inward. Robust with artfully presented metaphors, intoxicating in sensual details of adventures abroad, and courageously forthright in chronicling the reclamation of a sense of self from the fragments of a damaged life, Solo in Salento is a heartfelt and venturesome triumph."
-JONATHAN HAUPT, co-editor of Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy
"A sassy and sacred memoir for those sorting out what's most valuable in life."
-CASSANDRA KING CONROY, author of TELL ME A STORY: My life with Pat Conroy
"Donna Keel Armer's gorgeous memoir is an invitation to explore Italy with an artist's eye, a sommelier's palate, and a mystic's heart. Her story-reflective and riotous, intimate and illuminating-bares a bold and vulnerable personal journey of loss, discovery, and epiphany. Don't miss this book!"
-REBECCA BRUFF, author of Trouble the Water
"Solo in Salento is a mosaic-a rich tour of Italy, an art history lesson, a culinary adventure, a primer on trash, a tale of self-discovery, a love story, and so much more. Donna Keel Armer assembles the pieces with the flair of an artist and the care of an artisan. This book is for anyone who has ever felt the pull of wanderlust or the desire for some time alone."
-TIFFANY QUAY TYSON, author of Three Rivers and The Past is Never, winner of the 2018 Willie Morris Prize for Southern Fiction
"This book is so much more than a book about travel. It's a touching memoir of self-discovery and renewal. The stunning prose will transport you to the Puglia region of Italy, where you'll see masterful mosaics and taste Italian delicacies, and be moved by Donna's personal journey."
-CELE SELDON, travel journalist, Seldon Ink
"In the words of Donna Keel Armer, 'Enchantment comes to those who open their hearts, minds and souls to its possibilities.' Solo in Salento is an enchanting story of her time in a small village in Italy. In inviting us to share a journey to rediscover herself, Donna opens up with vulnerability, honesty, and, yes, enchantment. She is so masterful with descriptions, we walk alongside her, seeing the village, tasting the food, dancing with new friends. This is not a book to race through. It's a book to savor, to linger over each dinner, to enjoy outings and new people, to struggle with language, to feel the cramping of hands creating mosaics, and to take in the gems of insight she weaves seamlessly through the story. You will feel you've been to Salento and met a new friend."
-DONNA BEARDEN, Author of Finding More Me: Journaling to Go Soul Deep
