The Lights of Alborada - Hardcover

Gianni Riotta is a novelist and journalist who has contributed to Foreign Policy, Le Monde, and The Washington Post. This is his second novel to be translated into English, following Prince of the Clouds. He lives in Turin and New York City.

'Gianni Riotta is a born writer!His books are the stuff of contemporary life.' Umberto Eco 'This is a classic American buddies-on-the-road scenario, but the perspective is startlingly different -- we see it through the eyes of an enemy alien and his highly mysterious best friend. Unashamedly romantic and warm blooded.' The Times Praise for 'Prince of the Clouds': 'As romantic as Doctor Zhivago, as colourful as Garcia Marquez, Gianni Riotta writes with the vigour of a lover and the crisp knowledge of an academic!If only historians wrote like Riotta.' Observer 'A splendidly conceived entertainment delivered with style and wit.' Independent 'An entertainment proper for the thinking person!it works for Umberto Eco, it works for Indiana Jones, and now it works for Riotta: the rip-roaring romance with the scholarly plot.' New York Times 'An intelligent romance, beautifully set, of wide-ranging appeal, reminiscent of the film "Il Postino" and Louis de Bernieres's "Captain Correlli's Mandolin".' Publishers Weekly 'Even more enchanting than Louis de Bernieres's "Captain Correlli's Mandolin", Riotta's first novel to be translated into English is a revelation: as intoxicating as a glass of fine Italian wine served in a pavement cafe in Rome. Gentle, sensuous, scholarly and yet with an aching charm, it depicts a world where chivalry and honour are still possible, and the unlikeliest men can still be heroes!But Riotta's novel is not just two love stories -- it also contains one of the most thrilling battle sequences I've read in years, a fitting climax to a story so touching it fills my heart with pleasure just to write about it.' Daily Mail