Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
The aging Conte, Luciano, in an autumn glow of romance, takes the stranger, Dakota, as his long-lost lover, whom Luciano had foresaken to take up his traditional role as the head of the family. Dakota quickly begins to act as a catalyst throughout the moldering Italian noble family, already too overly burdened by a quickly disappearing traditional order of society in the vineyard-clad hills of Tuscany. The Conte’s grandson, Paulo, training by family tradition for the priesthood, latches onto the American stranger as his deliverance into another lifestyle altogether, while the Conte’s granddaughter, Gabriella, thoroughly disgusted with the paternalistic order she is bound to, seeks any avenue of escape. Rosella the maid—and Conte’s mistress—a woman society designated to serve the noble family, and the local villager portraitist, Giovanni, besmitten with Gabriella but unable to break the barriers of social status to claim her, are both also caught up in the winds of change unleashed by the appearance of the American stranger.

This is the story of five men and women, all thrown toward disintegration and release by the appearance of one young, blonde American stranger, the fiery spark who sets the sun on an ancient Tuscan order.

BOOK REVIEW:
Author habu once again captivates with his winning lyrical prose style, and immediately catapults the willing reader into entrancement. An Italian gentleman of good family, now in his sixties and fearing the abbreviated longevity of his genetic heritage may strike him down early also, spontaneously decides on a side trip to a tiny village where many decades ago, he postponed familial duty for the pleasures of the flesh ~ at that time, pleasures highly forbidden. Immediately he is taken aback when he sees what appears to be his same American lover, still the age he had been when they began their illicit adventure. But no, this young man is much more ingenuous, almost naive, in fact, and quite possibly is the great-nephew of the original beloved. Nonetheless, this new young man, Dakota, is still identical enough to be a stand-in, and more than willing too.

Even when setting his fiction in an exotic locale ~ in this case Tuscany ~ habu is a wizard of enchantment and entices readers into his cave of magic with a few well-chosen phrases, then introduces us to characters who come to seem as close as our family, friends, and neighbors. Luciano and Dakota are as realistic as individuals we might encounter in our own travels and adventures, and even when sympathy might not be elicited, empathy almost always is present. The excellent portrayal of the contemporary affair against the continuing flashing memories of Luciano’s lost love, the American Kyle whom Dakota so resembles, makes a poignant, winning, combination. Again habu serves up a don’t miss, steaming, character-driven story that deserves reading and rereading. Tuscan Twilight is very special.

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