Chapter one
How it happened
How the story
unfolded.
The seventeenth of July, 2026. A summer evening in Viscri, a village in the foothills of the Transylvanian mountains where the streets are cobbled, the houses are painted in faded blues, and the fastest way to get anywhere is still a horse and cart.
We had gone out for dinner. We ordered drinks, and while we waited we wandered up into the horse paddocks behind the village. The sun was dropping and the whole field had gone to a golden blaze.
Henri took a shot of pálinka, found the courage somewhere near the bottom of it, and dropped down on one knee. He never got to the end of the question.
We spent the rest of that evening walking the cobbled streets, in a place where time seems to have stopped altogether.
Almost exactly a year later we are doing it properly, in a masseria in the Puglian countryside, with everyone we love and a great deal of wine. We would very much like you to be there.