Lisa St Aubin de Teran's Swallowing Stones is a fictionalized account of the extraordinary life of one Oswaldo Barreto Miliani, code-named Otto -- adviser to Castro, confidant of Salvador Allende, and sharp thorn in the sides of both the CIA and the KGB. In the riveting and remarkable invented memoirs of the legendary seventy-year-old revolutionary scholar, the explosive history of twentieth-century Latin America unfolds before us -- viewed through the sharp, unflinching eyes of a uniquely indomitable character as he progresses, through consequence and fateful accident, from...

Of all the romantic obsessions in novelist Lisa St Aubin de Teran's life, the search for a castle occupied her the longest--until she saw the magnificent Villa Orsola deep in the Umbrian hills. Only after eagerly signing the ownership papers did she and her husband, painter Robbie Duff-Scott, discover they were the owners of a vast ruin lacking windowpanes, parts of the roof, and other essentials. A Valley in Italy recounts its restoration in the grand style of impossible house and the charms of bohemian family life. It also offers a rare portrait of the life of a. Italian...

One of today's most imaginative and lyrical writers, Lisa St. Aubin de Teran weaves together passion, idealism, and adventures in this mesmerizing fable set against the ornate backdrop of nineteenth-century Italy. The palace is the vision of Gabriele del Campo, a young, idealistic stonemason's apprentice imprisoned for supporting Garibaldi's revolutionary unification of Italy. A poor peasant, he has falen in love at first sight with the rich and beautiful noblewoman Donna Donatella. He yearns to be pulled out of poverty, and dreams of winning Donatellaa's heart and building a palaceworthy...