Ranging from South America to Africa and Italy, Christopher Cardew's inspirational novel explores the extremes of nature, and the extremes which men go to in order to survive, find a niche in life and attain personal redemption.A web of dramatic events is drawn together, almost miraculously, by the appearance of Pietro, a young orphan from a favela in Rio de Janeiro, whose luminous presence touches all who meet him - both in everyday life and in the unseen world of the spirit.Hints of Robert Louis Stevenson and Ernest Hemingway add high adventure to this saga of the sea and the changing land. The author's brilliant depiction of characters in crisis, and his keen psychological insight, make Pietro a highly rewarding read.