DREAMLAND and other stories

by Jan Mazzoni

DREAMLAND and other stories.It's dawn, and a young boy tiptoes out of the guesthouse where his mother and her boyfriend lie sleeping, having no idea where to go, knowing only that he has to get away. As far away as possible. An elderly countess falls in love with a stray dog and - for one long, torrid summer - her life is complete.Two women, best friends and passionate fans of the writer Patricia Highsmith, follow in her footsteps in a story with a nasty twist in the tail.A priest waits patiently in a dusty confessional hoping, praying for a soul to save. Nearby, a happily married woman sits drinking cappuccino and debating whether or not to go to bed - just the once - with a total stranger. The World Cup is on and impossible to miss. Even the peaceful mountain top town of Ravello has been turned into a football lout's playground, much to the dismay of at least one tourist.Picture it. The famous Amalfi coastline, widely acknowledged to be one of the most stunningly beautiful parts of Italy.But be warned.Something happens to people when they step out of their everyday lives into a world that until then has existed only in their imagination, or their dreams. They change. They may start acting completely out of character, or discover their true long-hidden selves. They grow braver, more reckless, or sometimes more stupid. They learn things they never knew they needed to know. They forget things that maybe they shouldn't. They fall in love, and off walls.The Amalfi coast leaves no-one untouched.For years it was a favourite with the jet-setters, an elite group who kept it very much to themselves. Then in the 1980s package tours made it possible for everyone to see what they'd been missing. These are the stories of just a few of those early visitors who discovered the charms of the coast when the locals still lived much as they had for generations. Before it became a World Heritage Site. Before the invasion.Sad, moving, funny, these stories will take you on a journey to an Italy that may look familiar, but is already - sadly - part of the past. Catch it while you can.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 171809700X
• ISBN13: 9781718097001
• Release Date: August 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 193 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.4" x 5.0"