It speaks of movement, migration, river crossings, railway time, and the enduring human story of leaving and arriving. There is something quietly stirring about this part of Lisbon, where the city meets the Tagus River and so many lives have passed through. That is one of the reasons the setting for the launch of my debut novel, The Red Silk Dress, mattered so much to me. The evening was deeply personal. But it was also, in a modest way, international, civic, and historical. It took place in a building where Portugal has long met the wider world.

On 31 March, in creative collaboration with The Editory Riverside Santa Apolónia, I launched the book. Even now, I can feel the emotion of that evening. After years of carrying this story privately, writing and rewriting, doubting, and continuing, the evening marked the moment when it finally stepped out into the world. A first launch is not merely a date in the calendar. Something intimate becomes visible. Something long held close is placed, at last, in the hands of others.

To do that, in this place, felt especially resonant. This is no ordinary Lisbon address. Set between the city and the river, it carries not only architectural history but emotional history too, felt in the openness towards the water and in the subtle melancholy certain buildings seem to hold after having witnessed so much human movement.

That is part of what made the collaboration with The Editory Riverside so meaningful. With genuine sensitivity to the spirit of the building, now reimagined as a contemporary hotel, and a sincere commitment to the arts, The Editory team shaped the evening with grace. They did not simply host it. They helped bring it to life.

Image: Natalie Turner reading at the launch of The Red Silk Dress, The Editory Riverside Santa Apolónia, Lisbon.


Wearing a red dress designed by Portuguese designer Catarina Castanho, with lacework that felt elegant and true to the spirit of the book, I walked down the long navy corridor under lantern light, passing worn leather suitcases, old typewriters, a globe, and relics of railway communication, all of them giving the interior a quiet language of travel and memory. It felt atmospheric and deeply considered as I moved towards my guests, all of whom were dressed with elegance and care. Candlelight and warm conversation gave the evening that particular energy that comes when people know they are stepping into something thoughtful and rare.

The evening unfolded through speeches and artistic reflection, with my husband, Carl, holding it together as emcee with warmth and steadiness. My dear friend, the Swedish artist Ingela Johansson, had flown in from Stockholm. Her paintings, created around the seven emotional thresholds of the story, allowed the book to be encountered not only through language, but through colour, form, and feeling. Lucy Musk, COO of The Portugal News, shared a warm and generous reflection. Bettina von Stamm, a beloved friend and creative visionary from Germany, brought a depth of voice to the night. My sister, Caroline, came from England to help me, and her practical support and steady presence behind the scenes meant more than I can easily say.

Sixty guests representing 22 nationalities gathered in one room in Lisbon, inside one of Portugal’s oldest gateways, around a story. Twenty people had flown in from overseas, which moved me deeply. The station has long stood as a point of contact between Portugal and its wider connections, and the evening seemed to echo, in a contemporary way, the larger history held within those walls.


Perhaps Santa Apolónia spoke to me so deeply because I, too, arrived here from elsewhere. After twelve years in Asia, Carl and I came to Portugal from Malaysia, with the strange mixture of hope, disorientation, and possibility that often accompanies a new beginning. This country has become home. As our fourth anniversary living here approaches, I understand more clearly why this evening touched me so deeply. Since arriving here, I have also come to understand the word saudade more intimately, that tender ache of longing, absence, and memory. It is a feeling I never knew the word for, yet one that lives at the heart of the emotional world of The Red Silk Dress. It was not only the arrival of a book. It was also, in some quiet way, part of my own continuing arrival.

The Editory’s role in this deserves more than a passing thank you. As exquisite hosts, they brought genuine care to every detail. The beauty of the setting, the elegant buffet, the free-flowing wine, and the warmth of the welcome made it feel not simply like an event to attend, but an experience to enter. At a time when so much feels transactional, there was something deeply restorative about an evening shaped with such attentiveness. It reminded me that hospitality, at its best, is about atmosphere and holding space.

That is what remains with me now. What endures most is the deeper truth that stories do not enter the world in the abstract. They arrive somewhere. And sometimes, if we are fortunate, they arrive in places whose history deepens and expands their meaning. On 31 March, The Red Silk Dress entered the world in Santa Apolónia, a place that has long understood that every arrival carries the shadow of departure, and every departure the possibility of return.

www.theredsilkdress.com

About Natalie Turner

Natalie Turner is a British author based in Lisbon. Her debut novel, The Red Silk Dress (February 2026), explores identity and longing. She also works internationally as a leadership advisor and is the founder of Women Who Lead.

Main image: The Editory Riverside Santa Apolónia on Lisbon’s riverfront, home to Portugal’s first railway station.