In a remote, poverty-stricken mountain village of Sicily, a baby boy awakens to life. Today that child is an old man. His memories crop up, stone hard and fleeting as birds: of faces, of hunger and beauty, love and wounding, song and weeping, war and peace.
In Sancal , his memoirs emerge in the form of 59 brief chapters. His intimate personal experiences reflect and shed light on his surroundings. He remembers post-War Sicily, the complicated legacy of fascism, centuries-long injustices and prejudices, and the spiritual depth and memorable quirks of simple people.
Says the author, "I felt a driving need to reconnect to my past while trying to recreate a part of its beauty." Some names have been changed.
His other books are The Devil's Scourge. Exorcism in Renaissance Italy (Red Wheel/Weiser, 2002) and Poesie/Poems (AVEditoria, 2018). He is currently completing a study dealing with Jews in Renaissance Italy.
About the Author: Gaetano Paxia was born in Naro, "a poor, tiny mountain village in southern Sicily, rich with ancient history, popular traditions, irrepressible beauty, complex experience in surviving fascism and World War II." The author of two previous books, he is a retired high school teacher of Italian and history, and lives near Venice, Italy.