No Noble Escape

A tense character-driven and atmospheric novel set in rural Italy. A captivating story of duplicity and betrayal. The high-risk pursuit of a new personal identity in a closed community.When the Londoner arrives in the remote Italian village his worldly presence is enough to spark fear and prejudice. But a few brave souls decide to befriend this stranger and challenge the intolerance of their shrinking rural community. A talented oboist the musician has come to recuperate in reclusion from injuries that threaten his soloist career. Little do visitors to his secluded villa realise how deeply they disturb the troubled conscience of this false charmer. Testing his good intentions could lead to personal tragedy. Secretly he is anything but noble at heart. Atmospheric and emotional heat permeates this setting in Itay’s remote sunbaked countryside. Heat that stuns the workers in the olive groves. Heat that erodes the Renaissance villa’s facade and the pious facade of the village. Heat that closes latticed window shutters and hides the bigoted inhabitants looking suspiciously through them. Heat that shimmers on the road the young woman walks home on. Heat in the fervour of a few who will no longer hide from their beliefs and ambitions. Heat that feeds hot-blooded compulsion and defiance and events no one reckons with. Heat that scorches to the third degree penetrates skin-deep duplicity and untested moral complexions. Heat that says: stay away.Go there. Take shade under a big compassionate umbrella. This gripping story will lead you through the unlocked inner conflicts of the village’s dissatisfied inhabitants. What persuades them to trust the musician? How does he become their pawn and they his victims? Why doesn't he or any of them see the risks they're taking?