SONGS FROM PISALOCCA

Author: GAITHER STEWART
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 9789363548275
Publisher: Cyberwit.net
Pub. Date: 2024
Price: $10

In Songs from Pisalocca, Stewart takes us on an anthropological and cultural tour of the ancient alpine village of Montagna. Framed and set like a series of scenic and dramatic paintings, Stewart's tales transport the reader up from Milan and Rome, or as far as from Australia into the microcosm of Montagna with intricate geographic and political comparisons and descriptions.
Through this collective of quirky and dramatic characters, stories are often interwoven and narrated by the astute
bookstore owner, Giacomo, who has a close connection with most of the other main characters.
Stewart creates tension between the traditional values of Catholicism, the Italian family, and village loyalty with the burning post-modern desires to travel; to transcend or temporarily escape one's limited identity; and to enjoy unrestricted polygamy.
Prepare to see the elderly village idiot come to life through interacting with an enigmatic outsider, a young Russian Cathar.
Brace yourself for the Pisalocca mountain ride and poker playing of an ex-professional cyclist. Witness the hypocrisy, repressed desires, and ability of the local priest to define miracles and justify certain crimes.
Smile or chuckle at the witty dialogue between Giacomo and a handsome young thief. Feel the claustrophobic angst and worries of a middle-aged friend who crosses paths with a beautiful young girl in distress during a storm. Relish the sexual history and smouldering lust for status of the local mayor - the sultry and beautiful Celestina whom people judge and envy yet allow to do almost anything.
Imagine yourself as an almost invisible guest of Giacomo and his old playboy friend "the Count" at a party where locals and odd foreigners interact in the ancient village.
With an emotional tale to summarise the narrators experience, like that of an immigrant returning home, we better understand what Montagna feels like and represents through Giorgio’s moving account of life and a failed marriage in beautiful but empty Australia (Dom Cochran).

Author BIO

Gaither Stewart
	Gaither Stewart regularly writes at the intersection of history, fiction, and his own considerable experience as bothwriter and citizen of the world. This brings a poignancy to his writing, mixed with the very human struggles of self and relationship that frequently occur at historical crucibles such as WWII, the cold war, western imperialism in Mexico and South America - as in this collection of short stories - or the contemporary military chess moves - as in his Europa Trilogy: The Trojan Spy, Lily Pad Roll, and Time of Exile. In Signs of the Time, the reader takes a journey with ordinary people who are each extraordinary in their own way. We see the world through their eyes. This is the gift of Stewart’s art and is amply demonstrated in this fine collection of short stories.

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