Giorgio van Straten Giorgio van Straten Giorgio van Straten (born 1955) is an Italian writer and manager of arts organizations. His first novel "Generazione" was published in 1987. In 2000 he won four literary prizes for "Il mio nome a memoria", published in English as "My Name, A Living Memory" (2003), the story of his Jewish-Dutch family from 1811 to our days. That same year he was awarded the Grand Official Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He translated from English into Italian "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Giunti, 1992),"The Call of the Wild" by Jack London (Giunti, 1994),"The Jungle
Frances Hodgson Burnett stressed the age difference—Townsend was ten years younger than she—and she referred to him as her secretary. Biographer Ann Thwaite doubts he loved her. She claims at that time the 50-year-old Burnett was "stout, rouged and unhealthy". Thwaite believes Townsend needed her to help with his acting career and support him financially. Within months, in a letter to her sister, she admitted the marriage was in trouble. She described Townsend as scarcely sane and hysterical. Thwaite argues Townsend blackmailed her into the marriage: he wanted money from her and he wanted to control her as a husband. Unable to bear