Author shares astonishing encounter with a fan who didn't recognize him while reading his book

There's no greater joy for an artist or writer than to be recognized by fans for their work. Similarly when Joseph Fasano boarded a flight and took his seat, he was delighted to find his co-passenger reading a novel written by him. But the 42-year-old American poet and novelist soon realized that the reader was oblivious to his presence since she couldn't recognize the author of the book that she was reading. The reader was an old lady so engrossed in his book "The Swallows of Lunetto" that she didn't realise that Fasano was also taking a picture at that moment.

He then shared it on his X handle @Joseph_Fasano_. According to The Herald, Fasano was on his flight to Scotland to promote his latest novel when this encounter took place. Fasano added a caption to the picture of his book lying on the tray table of the flight, asking his followers if he should say anything to the reader. “I sat there for a while and thought, well what should I do? Should I give this person their privacy?” Mr Fasano told the PA news agency, per The Herald. “I don’t want to get in the way of their reading of the book. I certainly don’t want them to feel obligated to have to talk to me.”

In a thread that followed the original post, Fasano revealed that he became good friends with the reader after he approached her to ask if she was enjoying the book or not. "I think so. Have you read it?" the woman responded. Fasano joked that he had read the book "about 100 times." That initially shocked the reader but Fasano later clarified that he read his book so many times "just to make sure everything was right."

The reader ultimately realized that she was talking to the author himself and she got her book signed by him. “To Jan, Thanks for taking me on your journey – your seatmate,” Fasano wrote on the first page of the novel before leaving his signature. Fasano's book is about a fictional young couple's escape from the fascist Italian province at the end of the Second World War. It is an emotional love story and historical drama that is a timely meditation on the left-right political divide, inherited trauma, and the potential of forgiveness to heal deeply divisive wounds, per Goodreads.

People on X who came across Fasano's post left wholesome comments as well. @CandeeMillstea2 wrote, "Joseph, your travel story, being next to the lady who is again reading your book, truly divinely inspired. You should have told her who you were. It is quite astonishing. I will look up your book. Must be very good, if she reads 100 times or close." @Smartaxia remarked, "What a wonderful gesture. She’ll have such a great memory of a day that might otherwise gone unnoticed. Looks like I’ll be adding a few new books to my collection. You’re a good human!" @RLAndrewDScott added, "Ask them what they think of the book so far. A true honest opinion. That is also so cool, you should be proud of yourself."

Fasano admitted that his encounter with Jan did make his journey to Scotland more magical. “It was a great way to just meet somebody and talk and it’s funny because writing literature is an attempt to connect to other people, but you never expected it to be a real-life connection like that,” he told the outlet. “So it was a pretty magical moment.”