Meet Reese
Reese Balducci is an award-winning, #1 Amazon best-selling author of literary and historical fiction. His work explores themes of perseverance, longing, and the quiet heroism of everyday life. A lifelong admirer of rich, character-driven storytelling, Reese draws inspiration from his family’s deep Italian roots and a personal passion for history, particularly the immigrant experience in America.
His current release, Letters from the Olive Tree, a #1 Amazon best seller, is a poignant exploration of love, sacrifice, and resilience set against the sweeping backdrop of early twentieth-century Tuscany and the American South. With a style praised for its lyrical prose and emotional depth, Reese seeks to illuminate the overlooked corners of history through intimate, human stories.
As a dual citizen, Reese lives in the Southeastern United States and Central Tuscany, surrounded by the landscapes and histories that continue to shape his work. When not writing, he enjoys traveling, reading widely across genres, and spending time with his family.
Letters from the Olive Tree by Reese Balducci
#1 AMAZON BEST SELLER
Letters from the Olive Tree is a literary historical fiction short story set in the early twentieth century. Giovanni Olivi, the second son of a proud but impoverished Tuscan farming family, is bound by tradition and cut off from inheritance. He leaves behind the only life he’s known and the woman he loves, Ersilia Innocenti, in search of opportunity in America, promising to make a life abroad and one day send for her.
What follows is a transatlantic journey of grueling labor, crushing poverty, and bitter desolation for Giovanni, testing the couple’s steadfast love. Told through vivid prose and the letters they exchange, Giovanni’s story unfolds in sweat, sorrow, and relentless hope as he faces the ultimate test of his promise to Ersilia beneath the olive tree.
Letters from the Olive Tree is a lyrical, emotionally resonant story about what it means to belong, in place and person. It is a timeless meditation on land, love, and the courage to keep building when everything seems lost.
Goodreads Reader Review Spotlight
Summary Takeaways:
- A love letter to resilience—Balducci’s prose is as lyrical as it is heartbreaking.
- For fans of The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See, a timeless tale of love and sacrifice.
- Epistolary storytelling at its finest—Letters from the Olive Tree will linger in your heart.
Letters from the Olive Tree wins 2025 Storytrade Book Awards
The Storytrade Book Awards celebrate literary craft, excellence and innovation, as awarded by a panel of judges after rigorous review.
“Letters from the Olive Tree” Wins 2025 Best Book Awards
Veridian House proudly announces that “Letters from the Olive Tree” has been named the Winner of the 2025 Best Book Award for Fiction Novelette by the American Book Fest. This prestigious award recognizes the best in literary works and is one of the largest mainstream book award competitions in the United States.
Until Tuscany Remembers by Reese Balducci
Coming Soon
Present-day Tuscany: Fleeing a stressful career and a fractured life in New York, Alex Olivi returns to her family’s ancestral Tuscan estate only to discover it drowning in debt. The overburdened homestead and commercial nursery property, now managed by her childhood friend, Matteo Rossi, is on the verge of a forced sale. Alex and Matteo are quickly thrust into a high-stakes partnership to save the property and the Olivi family legacy. Yet, the road to rescue is shrouded in mystery when they uncover a family secret from World War II.
1944 Tuscany: Under the shadow of brutal Nazi occupation, the stunning Tuscan landscape becomes a treacherous battlefield. Adalgisa Olivi, driven by a fierce resolve, makes a perilous, traitorous choice: to join La Resistenza, the Italian resistance. In a life-or-death decision, she transforms their family land into a clandestine refuge for wounded freedom fighters. The slightest mistake could expose their operation to the enemy’s tightening grip.
Across the expanse of time, two generations of Olivi women face nearly impossible choices to save the land and people they love. Can an act of honor, born in the crucible of WWII conflict, create a lifeline for a modern-day family teetering on the edge of losing everything they hold dear? The Olivi family legacy staggers on the brink of collapse, Until Tuscany Remembers.
