Where All-Convincing Love Assails

After two introductory chapters in which some of the new characters appear, the book continues the story of Luke Singleton-Scarborough, Tom Appleton his partner, and their family. Tom and Luke are civil partners, but they have a live-in girlfriend, Olivia, who is the mother of their three adopted children. Most of the story takes place in Italy but there are regular visits to England and Wales. Tom's and Luke's eldest son, Giovanni shows signs of being a talented singer, having been in a children's choir that came second in an event at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, and his half-brother Bernardo is an eight-year-old anglophile.

We also hear how Luke's biological brother Sandro Overton-Mascagnoli and Dom Overton, Earl of Batley, his spouse, move to new jobs in Italy, Dom now having a role in banking security and Sandro now works for FS, the Italian State Railways. We read how Luke's adoptive brother Tommy after a fairly unhappy time teaching in British schools (because he is gay) also gets a new job as an English teacher of adults in Parma, Italy. In Parma, he is joined for short periods in the summer by his partner Martin, a junior fellow of Sanguis Christi College in Camford, England and their mutual girlfriend Eleanor, a research student in Camford.

Most of the story is about the new character, Newcastle-born opera singer John Pitsmoor, winner of the Llandewi Mawr International Singing Festival. John is spending a year to improve his Italian by singing in the chorus at Luke's opera house in Trabizona, and he falls in love with Matteo Leotantini, friend of Luke's brother Tommy and now a research student in Tom's chemical laboratory in Trabizona University. Their relationship is not without its problems. Matteo has not disclosed his gayness to his family and John has a spell of unfaithfulness with a gay visiting tenor. Prominent in each book in the series is the gay chairman of Tom's department, Professore Arturo Sescantanti, who holds twice yearly parties at which academic chemists and the gay population of the city meet and mingle. The répétiteuse at Luke's opera house gets married to one of Matteo's laboratory colleagues and Matteo is invited to be the best man at their wedding in Deventer, the Netherlands. By the end of the book John has returned to a job with the opera house in Bristol, England and Matteo has finished his doctoral study, has written his thesis and obtained the degree of Dottore di Ricerca. Thanks to Tom's contacts in Camford he has got a postdoctoral position in England. Even then, it seems likely that the relationship will be subjected to severe strain.

Dettagli