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  • Published: 26 May 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804955482
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 208
  • RRP: $26.99

Backstage

Stories of a writing life




An engaging collection of stories and essays by the celebrated author of the internationally bestselling Guido Brunetti series, infused with her ever-present and delightful senses of humor and irony

Whether walking along the canals of Venice or teaching English to Iranian pilots, interviewing blood diamond dealers or reading Great Expectations, Donna Leon has found inspiration in the strangest of places.

In this engaging collection of stories on writing, reading, teaching and Venice, Leon offers new insight into the moments that shaped her into a celebrated, internationally bestselling author. Infused with her ever-present and delightful sense of humour and irony, she is as good a storyteller about herself as she is a chronicler of Guido Brunetti’s crime adventures. Readers will be as caught up in her world as she is in his.

  • Published: 26 May 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804955482
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 208
  • RRP: $26.99

About the author

Donna Leon

Donna Leon was named by The Times as one of the 50 Greatest Crime Writers. She is an award-winning crime novelist, celebrated for the bestselling Brunetti series. Donna has lived in Venice for thirty years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she worked as a teacher. Donna’s books have been translated into 35 languages and have been published around the world.

Her previous novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all been highly acclaimed; including Friends in High Places, which won the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, Fatal Remedies, Doctored Evidence, A Sea of Troubles and Beastly Things.

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