Leonard Flama

On leaving the idyllic mountain setting overlooking the splendour of Lake Maggiore where he has grown up, in order to pursue his operatic training in the bustling city of Milan, Giuseppe could never have imagined the dramatic circumstances that would lead him through Florence, Venice, Baden-Baden in Germany, and across the Atlantic to Philadelphia.Set primarily in Italy in the 1950s, this is the story of an extraordinarily talented young man who, endowed with a great natural voice, eventually fulfils his dream of becoming a successful tenor singer. It conjures up the world of opera, vividly portraying the personal and professional lives of singers. Through keen observation and lively dialogue, we get to know a range of fascinating characters from all strata of society.You don't have to be a lover of opera to enjoy this book, but reading it may lead you in that direction!

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was one of the major conflicts of the 20th century, with repercussions that spread beyond its time and place, but not all its heroes were combatants. Guillermo s ideology ensured that he spent the entire war as a political prisoner first in his native Tenerife, and subsequently in a labour camp near Tetuan, in what was then Spanish Morocco thus pre-empting what would have been his natural inclination to volunteer to join the Republican army and fight against Franco s Nationalists. Embodying history, politics and socio-economics, this story shows how war affects ordinary people. It provides a vivid insight into both the everyday life of Tenerife and the exoticism of Tetuan, where the reader is immersed in the sights, sounds and aromas of the Medina. This is a modern historical novel that includes elements of courtroom drama, action thriller and romance, which will repay the engagement of a wide readership.

It has been said that 'Truth is stranger than fiction', and so it has proved with many of the people who inspired the semi-fictional characters in Leonard Flama's previous book set in Cuba, The Valley of the Innocents. Over the course of four visits to the area, the author has had the privilege of getting to know the real people better, along with their families, friends and neighbours. Having been invited into their homes and closely observed their tribulations, sorrows and joys, he offers a rare insight into their lives, accompanied by evocative descriptions of his sensory impressions of their environment. The sympathies and attachments he formed with these people impelled his desire to try and help them in some constructive way. Whether as a travel journal or as a piece of social history placed in the context of Cuban culture, politics, economics and current affairs, this makes for a compelling read

It is not very often that a chance encounter could seal a person's friendship or association for many years or for the rest of his life. Meeting two little girls, aged five and seven, and their grandmother, in such desolate circumstances in the Valle de los Ingenios (Cuba) in 2006 sealed that relationship for the author. Since it was his first encounter with the people of the Valle, he had to learn more and, as a result of that knowledge, he was prompted to express the emotions of his encounter, as he imagined them to be, in this story harnessing the extra-sensory perception of two young girls in 'THE VALLEY OF THE INNOCENTS'. Although the story at the heart of this book is fictitious, the characters are almost entirely based on real people whom the author got to know or observe in the course of his visits to the Valle, and the narrative is placed in the context of Cuban current affairs existing at the time.

To write about anything is to write about what is happening around one, and that is reflected in the people one has encountered in life. Some are good, some bad, and any of them could claim the status of a celebrity - whether that status is deserved or not. The author has drawn on the experiences of friends and acquaintances and his interaction with them to reveal human nature. These 'others' do not claim celebrity status but their lives are real, and the observer is left to draw his own conclusion as to the merits of those lives. The central character, Aesop Fitzgerald, is a young lawyer on his own voyage of discovery as he tries to link those characters in resonance with the morals of Aesop's Fables. He possesses a mentor who influences the soul, and never gives up in his efforts to achieve a justifiable existence in society.