"Mario Valentini was born in Collemare, a tiny stone hilltop village in the rugged mountains of the Abruzzo, in the heart of Italy. With money short at home and his father working in a foreign land, at four years old he was sent to live with his uncle, a traveling priest. Thus began a life of unexpected freedoms and marvelous adventures. For the mischievous boy, who loved nothing so much as swordplay, tales of Romans and Crusaders, and American chewing gum, every new town meant new friends, and getting into trouble was as easy as shooting his slingshot.

A warm, tender, and richly nostalgic look at growing up in a remote village in a postwar Italy on the brink of modernity.

In the tradition of Cinema Paradiso, comes a warm, tender, and richly nostalgic look at growing up in a remote village in a postwar Italy on the brink of modernity. Mario Valentini was born in the rugged Abruzzo mountains in the heart of Italy, but, with money short at home and his father working in a foreign land, at four years old he was sent to live with his uncle, a traveling priest. Thus began a life of unexpected freedoms and marvelous adventures. For the mischievous boy, who loved nothing so much as swordplay and American chewing gum, every new town meant new friends, and getting into trouble was as easy as shooting his slingshot. From confronting a hungry wolf at dusk to drinking in the fumes in an empty wine barrel, every anecdote sparkles with his exuberance for life. As he grows, he gleans lessons from unexpected sources: a curmudgeonly painter, a communist reputed to eat priests for dinner, even the caustic spinster aunt who keeps house for his uncle.

Filled with fond recollections and touching stories, these tales from hundreds of contributors pay tribute to nuns—those monochromatically clad monitors of the right, the wrong, and the holy. Catholic nuns are portrayed as devoted and passionate women who, armed with an arsenal of educational weaponry ranging from creative storytelling to psychological terrorism, had the massive responsibility of molding children into model citizens of God. The brief, descriptive anecdotes cover subjects ranging from religious training, habits, and devotion to discipline, pranks, and the always-dicey sex education. Readers are introduced to such legends-in-the-making as baseball-playing nuns, telepathic nuns, gun-toting nuns, and even skinny-dipping nuns. These nuns have seen it all—the silly or the sad, the frightening or sublime—and always keep their gazes directed upward.

Roman Wolfe is a Vietnam combat veteran who specialized in the stealthy stalking and killing of the enemy. After his military discharge he attends college to become an elementary school teacher. But he is still haunted by his experiences in Vietnam, which cause guilt and bouts of severe depression, all related to the senseless killing that he saw and performed. Two years after his Adirondack kidnapping ordeal (Roman Wolfes Adirondack Ordeal, book 1), he is finally able to relax and be happy with his family, his career and with himself. But peace doesnt last long for Roman; darkness follows him like a persistent, evil shadow. Romans long awaited, sublime peace is shattered when two escaped prisoners are making a get-away, but are prematurely forced to stop at the school where Roman teaches. Roman and his students are taken hostage by the prisoners. Its then that the mysterious white wolf enters his life, again, after being dormant since the Adirondack kidnapping. Roman and his spirit wolf conspire to protect the students and thwart the escape plan of the criminals, but Roman must reluctantly return to his world of violence to protect his cherished students.

V.1-20 are, like missing vols. 21-26, also freely available online at the the China-America Digital Academic Library (CADAL), & can be accessed with the following individual urls: http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv1 Note: Click to view v.1 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv2 Note: Click to view v.2 via CADAL http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv3 Note: Click to view v.3 via CADAL http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv4 Note: Click to view v.4 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv5 Note: Click to view v.5 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv6 Note: Click to view v.6 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv7 Note: Click to view v.7 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv8 Note: Click to view v.8 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv9 Note: Click to view v.9 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv10 Note: Click to view v.10 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv11 Note: Click to view v.11 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv12 Note: Click to view v.12 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv13 Note: Click to view v.13 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv14 Note: Click to view v.14 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv15 Note: Click to view v.15 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv16 Note: Click to view v.16 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv17 Note: Click to view v.17 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv18 Note: Click to view v.18 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv19 Note: Click to view v.19 via CADAL. -- http://lookup.lib.hku.hk/lookup/bib/B3144507Xv20 Note: Click to view v.20 via CADAL.

In an Italian village, a woman’s impulsive decision leads to a lifetime of lies: “A fascinating story of secrets and betrayals.” —Helen Matthews, author of Girl Out of Sight Everyone’s hiding something in the idyllic Tuscan village of Santa Zita. So when social pariah Sonia finds an abandoned baby, she believes her prayers have been answered. But twenty-five years later, her old friend Carlo is digging into her family’s past for a book he’s writing, and the police are investigating a murder at the villa she grew up in. Could one discovery could lead to another? If the truth about Lorenzo’s identity gets out, it could destroy not only the fragile bond between Sonia and her son, but also blow the lid off a darker, more terrible secret about a wartime event the village is still reeling from. While Carlo is determined to get to the truth, Sonia will do anything to stop him . . . “If I could have given it six stars, I would have!” —Angela Petch, author of The Tuscan House “Sizzles with tension.” —Tessa Harris, author ofThe Anatomist's Apprentice