WHEN THE CHESSBOARD WAS EMPTY

She travelled to Italy to see a chess game. Instead, she found the grandfather she never knew existed. After finishing a night shift in Manchester, Sofia Bellini sees a video of something extraordinary: a medieval Italian town where, every two years, a giant chessboard fills with living kings, queens, knights and horses.
Something about Marostica feels strangely familiar. Then Sofia discovers an old photograph hidden beneath the lining of her grandmother's chess box. September, 1954. Her nineteen-year-old grandmother, Lucia. A young man on horseback. And one missing black knight. On impulse, Sofia flies to Italy. She arrives too late for the performance.
But the following morning, when the crowds have disappeared and the great chessboard stands empty, an old man is waiting beside it. His name is Matteo Rinaldi. He is ninety-four years old. And he has kept a single black chess knight for seventy-two years.
What follows is the story of a love interrupted by an accident, a letter that never reached its destination, a daughter whose father never knew she existed, and two people who spent a lifetime believing the other had chosen to leave. But some games aren't lost. Some are simply unfinished.
Spanning Manchester and the beautiful walled town of Marostica, When the Chessboard Was Empty is a warm, funny and heartbreaking story about family, lost time, second chances, and the tiny moves that can change an entire life. Because sometimes the most important thing isn't winning the game. It's discovering that you still have a move left.