A widower finds a second chance and a new language after an unexpected proposal. Truth and fiction are abstracted in Gaudí’s surreal Barcelona.

And a young film enthusiast reunites with his first unrequited love in an epic novella that spans decades and lifetimes. Written and widely published across three decades, these are stories of passion and longing, the foreign and the familiar, the transcendent and the profane—at home with Greek choral music, rock’n’roll and 1970s slasher films.

‘Venero Armanno is a writer who fearlessly explores the primal urges, pressed desires, and the intense, contradictory cravings that drive human behaviour—and the betrayals, family breakdowns, violence and tragic misunderstandings they leave in their wake. While the settings, and the social and cultural references are contemporary, there are echoes of the ancient Greek melodramas in his work.

Armanno’s stories probe beneath the explosive surface. and in unmasking his characters, he exposes the elemental human need for intimacy, connection, and a sense of belonging.

’—Arnold Zable. .