This is a story told by a boy in his thirteenth year, recorded in his secret diary. His life is about to change; his world, about to open.

He lives in Montedidio God s Mountain a cluster of alleys in the heart of Naples. He brings a paycheck home every Saturday from Mast Errico s carpentry workshop where he sweeps the floor. He is on his way to becoming a man his boy s voice is abandoning him. His wooden boomerang is neither toy nor tool, but something in between. Then there is Maria, the thirteen-year-old girl who lives above him and, like so many girls, is wiser than he. She...