'At a crumbling but beautiful villa on the Fiesole hills outside Florence, four siblings reunite for the funeral of their mother, Nina Larkin. They bring with them light suitcases, and hearts heavy not only with grief, but also with small mysteries from childhood, grown large with age and time. All in their fifties now, and all with their particular variety of experiences, they remember what it was like to holiday in those hills. Youthful memories rarely match; the four recall their mother very differently. The inheritance they hope to take away is bound up in Nina Larkin’s will. The only thing they agree about is its complexity. A Funeral in Fiesole is a four-fold weave of memories told in turn by Paola, Brod, Suzanna and Nigel. Their youthful dreams are revealed, together with their hopes for the future. Their problems – which might be solved by their mother’s will – threaten to make something simple rather complicated' (publication blurb).
Epigraph:
You know, distance is like the wind
It puts out small fires
And fans big ones.
–Domenico Modugno La Lontananza
We are hard as this rock.
Stubborn as this stone
And we are as compliant as the sea's foam.
Concetta D'Orazio Queste Pagine : Abbruzzo
