GIANNI RIOTTA

Más allá del arte de la guerra, de las lecciones de Terzo aprendemos el amor, la pasión y la amistad: las grandes batallas que se libran en el corazón. El coronel Carlo Terzo, estudioso del arte de la guerra, concibe la estrategia militar como un arte que nada tiene que ver con la brutalidad n la muerte, sino con la inteligencia y la cultura. Es un soldado sin guerra obstinado en extraer de la historia militar una moral valida tambien para la existencia cotidiana. De Anibal, el coronel aprende la fuerza de la debilidad contra enemigos que parecen invencibles; de Sun Tse, como derrotar al enemigo incluso antes de entrar en combate; del general Desaiz, a no darse nunca por vencido. Pero en el momento de entrar Italia en la guerra, Terzo se ve obligado a quedarse, muy a pesar suyo, en su patria. Decepcionado, ve partir a su mejor amigo al frente ruso y entra en su vida, como un torbellino magico, la misteriosa princesa cosaca Emma Svjatoslave. Resingnado a la inutilidad de sus teorias, Terzo se refugia en Sicilia y asiste al enamoramiento de dos adolescentes, Fiore y Salvatore, que le demuestran lo imprevisible que es la vida. Y asi, como por encanto, Terzo se encuentra en el campo de batalla, participe de una lucha muy alejada de sus manuales. Apremiado entre el destino y la estrategia, experimentara el amargo desencanto de la razon.

A rousing historical adventure from the bestselling author of Prince of the Clouds. As a boy, Nino Manes used to dash through the morning streets of his island fishing village to reach the church square before the first explosion of the Alborada, the fireworks that rang out over the bay to announce the dawning of a feast day. Now, years later as an Italian prisoner of war in a Texan camp at the end of World War II, Nino receives a letter from his love Zita, and finds himself facing a race against time of a different kind. For Zita tells him she is going to marry professor Barbaroux, their maths teacher and Nino has only forty days to get back to the island and put a stop to the wedding. Taking his life in his hands, he escapes from the camp, vowing to get home before the marriage can take place. Idealistic and ambitious, Nino sets off on a breathless chase across the United States, and is soon joined on his odyssey by an enigmatic Lieutenant in the US Army, and a young prostitute. Together they face a series of extraordinary dangers, from wild forest animals to unexploded mines, and as their journey progresses, Nino finds himself assailed by doubts, questioning his own motives and those of the people around him. At once a romantic adventure and a thrilling wartime escape story, with a colourful cast of characters, The Lights of Alborada is also the story of a spiritual quest and a heartrending exercise in nostalgia.