Never the Wind
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A bittersweet gothic fantasy of family, friendship, memory, and the uncanny told from the perspective of a blind teenager in Puglia, Southern Italy, set in the same world as The Book of Hidden Things, perfect for readers of Neil Gaiman, Donna Tartt and Haruki Murakami.
Praise God, never the wind
1996 - Luca Saracino is thirteen and has been completely blind for eight months when his parents move to a Southern Italian farmhouse they dream of turning into a hotel. With his brother dropping out of university and the family reeling from Luca's diagnosis, they are chasing dreams of rebirth and reinvention.
As Luca tells his story without sight - experiencing the world solely through hearing, smell, taste and touch - he meets the dauntless Ada Guadalupi, who takes him out to explore the rocky fields and empty beaches. But Luca and Ada find they can't escape the grudges that have lasted between their families for generations, or the gossiping of the town. And Luca is preyed upon by the feral Wanderer, who walks the vineyards of his home.
As Luca's family starts to crack at the seams, Luca and Ada have to navigate new lands and old rivalries to uncover the truths spoken as whispers on the wind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Heavenly Creatures meets Mary Stewart's lushly scenic gothic thrillers in Dimitri's eerie sophomore work of religious horror (after The Book of Hidden Things). In the summer of 1996, newly blind 13-year-old Luca Saracino moves with his Catholic family to the southern Italian village of Portodimare, where his parents are renovating his grandfather's farmhouse into a high-end wedding venue. His only friend is Ada Guadalupi, who helps him learn to navigate the Mediterranean scrub and beaches—even as a feral-smelling "wanderer" begins to stalk them. During the purposefully slow and disorienting start, Dimitri competently portrays the experience of a formerly sighted person adjusting to blindness, building a complete world of smell, touch, taste, and sound. From there, the background small-town gossip steadily overtakes the narrative, slowly revealing that Luca's new home is not what it seems. And though it takes a while to set the hook, the plot builds to a truly spooky climax. There's plenty here to fascinate fans of cerebral horror.
