Last Comes the Raven

<b>The first complete English-language edition of one of Calvino's important early short story collections</b> <p/> Blending reality and illusion with elegance and precision the stories in this collection--one of Calvino's earliest--take place in a World War II-era and postwar Italy tinged with the visionary and fablelike qualities that would come to define this master storyteller's later style. A trio of gluttonous burglars invade a pastry shop; two children trespass upon a forbidden garden; a wealthy family invites a rustic goatherd to lunch only to mock him. In the title story a compact masterpiece of shifting perspectives a panicked soldier tries to keep his wits--and his life--when he faces off against a young partisan with a loaded rifle and miraculous aim. Throughout Calvino delights in discovering hidden truths beneath the surface of everyday life. <p/> Stories from<i> Last Comes the Raven</i> have been published in translation but the collection as a whole has never appeared in English. This volume including several stories newly translated by Ann Goldstein is an important addition to Calvino's legacy.