The Innocents

Author: Paola Calvetti

Jacopo and Dasha are loners in life and soloists on stage. Violinist and Cellist. These two damaged musicians find solace in each other. Their idyllic relationship implodes when a tragic accident makes an orphan of Dasha’s infant niece. Dasha wants to care for the child, but not alone; with Jacopo by her side. The only way to convince him is to help him discover who his real mother was and why she abandoned him over fifty years ago.
An Albanian refugee, Dasha arrived in Brindisi during the dramatic exodus in 1991, with nothing but a cello in her arms, and a violent boyfriend. It was tough, but the worst came when one night, she was deprived of ever becoming a mother.
Jacopo is an orphan himself. Left on the doorsteps of Florence’s famous Hospital of the Innocents, he was adopted and raised by a couple who hoped in vain that he would cure their unhappiness. He knows first-hand what it means to be unwanted. And he can’t take that risk on a child.
As Jacopo and Dasha prepare to perform Brahms’ Double Concerto on a warm June evening in Florence’s stunning Hospital of the Innocents, the music of the past and the present, play in perfect unison. And the result is sublime. An intense and compelling novel, in which music and drama intersect in a place called love. And the result is a final, shocking revelation.

Publisher: Mondadori
Publish Date: 2017
Page Count: 132

Author

Paola Calvetti

Paola Calvetti studied at the Alessandro Manzoni Language School in Milan, where she was born and raised. After graduating with a degree in arts, music, and theater from the University of Bologna, she worked as a performing-arts reporter for La Reppublica newspaper. She created and curated The Dance, a series that focuses on the 20 most important dancers and choreographers of the 20^th century, and has written essays on both music and dance for The Scala Editions, where she was Head of the Press Office from 1993 to 1997. In 1996, she edited the book Riccardo Muti: Ten Years at The Scala. From 1997 to 1999, she was the Chief Press Officer at Baldini & Castoldi Publishing House. She was the Director of Communications of the Fabrizio Ferri Group from 1999 to 2003, and the Director of Communications of the Italian Touring Club from 2003 to 2009. She appeared on Rai3’s Linea Notte con la Rubbrica from 2009 to 2010 with her recommended reading list of love stories. She is currently the Marketing and Communications Director of the new Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Books of Paola Calvetti