Joan Mora

Joan Mora writes historical fiction. Raised in suburban Maryland, she was introduced to fiction by her bookworm older sister. Their father, also rarely without a book, often said, “put down that book and write your own.” Joan listened.

An avid traveler, she moved to Texas in 2005 with her husband and son. Instead of driving a moving van west, they set off the other way around—in planes, trains, and boats through nine countries in Europe and Asia, compelling her to set her fiction in the wider world.

Her recent novel, The Lost Legacy of Gabriel Tucci, follows an Italian architect and the woman he saves from an unwanted marriage as they emigrate from 19th-century Trastevere to London, where a bitter rival seeks to ruin him. Generations later, a new rivalry emerges between their descendants. When an art restorer unearths haunting artifacts inside the church, a discovery threatens to dispel everything the rivals believed true.

In a multilayered narrative, crossing generations and continents, The Lost Legacy of Gabriel Tucci is a testament to the endurance of love and the will to survive. Rich with Italian culture and Jewish themes, the story will appeal to readers of 19th-century historical fiction with dual timelines.