Coming soon: THE ETERNAL PINE
The Eternal Pine is a historical novel told within the framework of a fairy tale. Set in 18th century Naples, Italy the tale encompasses orphans, church rule and a villanous king. Alessandra: orphan, victim, survivor, lover, story teller–she who plays no known role in history but has a dramatic arc of her own, from a life of squalor to designing gowns for rich aristocrats, and the annual femminiello* wedding. Along the way, Alessandra outwits a king and writes a story that continues the myth of the pine seeds and points to life everlasting.
Naples is a myth-maker: It holds the characters within the shadow of Vesuvius and the curve of the bay and draws the reader into a tangled web of magical realism, contradiction, terror and beauty.
Like all myths, its magic and mayhem transverses centuries. Set in the Spanish Bourbon era of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, abuses of power under Primo (real life Ferdinando I) are as relevant to our age as they were in times past.
* femminiello – “little woman-man,” so-called third sex unique to Naples.
Let the author take you on a short trip into Alessandra’s world, and to imagine the sights and sounds of 18th century Naples. As with all things Neapolitan, we begin with the fearsome and dangerous Vesuvius and cast our eyes along the sweep of the majestic bay.
Naples and Vesuvius, Chocolat Guerin-Boutron
“In these pages, the history of Naples and reality merge with the grace of an ancient fairy tale. Here, magical realism is the essential lens to explore the soul of a city where destiny takes on the fiery red of a witch’s hair and the scent of pine seeds.”
Giovanni Vitiello. Detti Napoletani, Naples, Italy
