“...After covering me with a heavy blanket, Palo holds my head and forces me to drink the Ouzo which makes me gag. Then he motions me to rest. The rain is pelting my face and the sea is tossing the ship about as if it were made of paper mache. I have been sick for hours, lost between the misery of retching and being comforted by the old pirate. As I lay here after being held captive for the past four days on the Aegean Sea off the Cyclades islands, I think...this must be what it is like to die at sea...

“The Passions of Roxanna” is the story of a woman who follows a dream to an island on the other side of the world. In it, a spirit repeatedly takes her to the cliffs of Capri where he shows her a new life. Roxanna once painted like the Italian masters, but lost her desire and passion for life and the art years ago. As she now travels to Capri and finds herself journeying from place to place throughout Italy and Greece, she starts to feel that fire in her belly again, and awakens to the romance and adventure that seems to find her wherever she goes.

She is taken throughout southern Italy by two comical Italians on a search for her own Holy Grail, and she finds herself running through the streets of Pompeii in A.D. 79 as the city burns. Then she is off to Greece where in Athens she belly-dances with the locals, Mykonos where she swims naked in the Aegean with Cristos, Delos where Helios the Sun God comes to her, and Santorini where she is kidnapped by modern day pirates.

There are many romantic, comical, and entertaining adventures to enjoy as you watch Roxanna unfold and find her passions. You will be on the edge of your seat not wanting her great adventures to end and wishing you were her! “Heart-beating...provocative...delicious... adventurous...uplifting... compelling...courageous...” - Susan Chen

About the Author



Gail Michael is an author, speaker, and poet living in Laguna Beach, California.