A Separate Heaven is a series of seven books that spans twenty-five years in the lives of two families – the Hamiltons and the Gianellis. Details of the characters are carefully constructed. The reader will come to know them and invest in the details of their lives.
Enter A Separate Heaven. Meet the families. Come to know them. From Long Island to the shores of the Mediterranean, this engrossing drama will hold you spellbound!
Fun facts about Alex Disanti and the series A Separate Heaven
Re my pen name: I have always liked the name Alexandra, and the Italian name Disanti is the name of a family in my books. So I decided my author’s name would be Alexandra Disanti. When I received my first copyright from the Library of Congress it read Alex Disanti. I called them. I cannot speak for today, but at that point in time I talked to a person. Imagine that! He checked the file and said that perhaps I had been interrupted when filling out the form but that I had typed Alex instead of Alexandra, so here I am…Alex Disanti. And I am so grateful for the typo. Much better, don’t you think?
How I found the artist who provides the covers for my books is a story unto itself. For the first book I knew I wanted a sunset or sunrise over water. My daughter found several pictures and sent them to me. The first two photos were the ones I selected. All I knew was the photographer’s name, David Humphries. It took a while but I found him. He lives in Yorkshire, England. We made contact and he graciously granted me permission to use the photos. I had sent him a synopsis of the story and its locales, one of which is Italy. A short time after reading it, he sent me a message and said he thought I would be interested to know that the photos I was using on the jacket for the book were taken off the coast of Italy when he and his wife were guests aboard a friend’s yacht. Then, a week later, I received another message. David said his wife had located pictures from that vacation and that the name of the boat was Heavenly Daze. I have always felt this was much more than just coincidence! David still provides the covers for my books.
Re the characters Dominic Gianelli and Paige Hamilton: For a long time I noticed that actors, during an interview, were quite defensive about the character they portrayed in a movie or on television, and it didn’t matter how shady or even evil the character was. It used to strike me as rather strange because I would think, “Surely they know that viewers realize it is only fiction.” Well, early on, I allowed some family members and a few friends to read the manuscript for A Separate Heaven. One of my longtime friends commented during a phone conversation that Dominic and Paige were a “devoted but certainly dysfunctional couple.” Suffice to say I did not take it well. I learned that day how defensive all artists, be they writers or actors, can be about their character(s).
   |  A Separate Heaven is a series of seven books that spans twenty-five years in the lives of two families. Book One introduces the Hamiltons and the Gianellis, brought together by an unlikely union. The enigmatic Dominic Gianelli is a man whose immense wealth and power have earned him respect and admiration from the social elite of both Europe and America. But his legitimate wealth has long been rumored to mask the secrets and dark corners in his world. Nearing fifty, he lives by a strict code and allows few people to know him. Beyond his carefully crafted image of sophistication, Dominic is a man with a tight grip on those around him. But a chance meeting with twenty-year-old Paige Hamilton forever changes his life. Paige Hamilton is just beginning to find her own place in the world, away from her affluent, Long Island family. A striking beauty, she is a financial prodigy and a trusted market analyst climbing the ladder at a prestigious, New York investment firm where Dominic is a client. Their connection upon meeting is instant and profound. Their first dinner date takes an unexpected turn and becomes a night neither will forget. But Dominic has doubts about a long-term love. His world can be dangerous and he fears for Paige s safety should she commit herself to him. Despite any qualms, he finds he cannot give her up. Her family objects, unsure of Dominic s secretive lifestyle. Their relationship takes a surreal turn when Paige becomes engulfed in Dominic's world of tight security, clandestine meetings and increasingly erratic behavior. Enter A Separate Heaven. Meet the families. Come to know them. From Long Island to the shores of the Mediterranean, this engrossing drama will hold you spellbound. |
 | The intriguing saga of the Hamilton and Gianelli families continues as book two takes them back to Salerno and Paige proves herself to be the asset the Gianellis have hoped she would be. Dominic’s aunt, Sophia, sees the couple as her last and only tie to a glorious but tragic past in Italy. With the nephew's marriage to Paige, Sophia's unspoken dream is rekindled, for in her mind, she now sees a chance for Dominic to rebuild what once was. A mysterious incident abroad has far reaching implications stateside and creates havoc for members of both families. Information revealed in court has an impact on Paige because closely held secrets of the Hamilton family are revealed. |
 | The drama builds as Paul Hamilton's betrayal of Dominic Gianelli fuels the D.A. to action. A fiasco of events causes Paige to fall ill and nearly costs her life. Dominic learns of the betrayal and the vile and duplicitous acts by his father-in-law and the D.A. Sacred boundaries have been crossed and forgiveness is not an option. |
Excerpt one from Book One
On October 2, 1980, Dominic Gianelli entered the offices of Carson, Wiehls and Fullerton. A client for only weeks now, his arrival caused a flurry of activity among the staff. Even the most experienced members of the investment firm were on edge. Henry Carson, owner and senior partner, was nervous and unsettled, completely out of character for him, but this was no ordinary client.
Gianelli was an enigma, recognized internationally in the business world and his accumulated assets were reported to be prodigious. Little else was known about him, although his penchant for two things, accuracy and privacy, had been evinced at their first meeting. He seemed to have come on the scene quickly, yet his profile revealed more than twenty years of steady, well-planned acquisitions and disposals. With as many European contacts as domestic, he was well respected here in New York. After all, one did not ignore this kind of wealth and, therefore, power.
He was a big man, six-feet, three inches in height, 270 pounds. Immaculately groomed, he had brown eyes and short, dark, slightly thinning hair combed back from his forehead. He seemed, by nature, a rather quiet man with low tolerance for the frivolous or inept. He had an air of confidence that was not lost on those who met him. Gianelli was a man comfortable with himself. When he entered a room, he owned it, and he knew it.
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