In Calabria
by Peter S. Beagle
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Pub Date Feb 14 2017 | Archive Date May 24 2017
Description
—Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked and After Alice
From the acclaimed author of The Last Unicorn comes a new, exquisitely-told fable for the modern age.
Claudio Bianchi has lived alone for many years on a hillside in Southern Italy’s scenic Calabria. Set in his ways and suspicious of outsiders, Claudio has always resisted change, preferring farming and writing poetry. But one chilly morning, as though from a dream, an impossible visitor appears at the farm. When Claudio comes to her aid, an act of kindness throws his world into chaos. Suddenly he must stave off inquisitive onlookers, invasive media, and even more sinister influences.
Lyrical, gripping, and wise, In Calabria confirms Peter S. Beagle's continuing legacy as one of fantasy's most legendary authors.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
Advance praise for In Calabria
A Top 10 Publishers Weekly Spring 2017 Featured Title
A Pixelated Geek Best Book of 2016
A Kirkus February’s Must-Read Science Fiction and Fantasy title
A Barnes & Noble Bookseller's Pick: Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of February 2017
[STARRED REVIEW] “Acclaimed fantasist Beagle (Summerlong) sets this charming, lyrical tale of unicorns and love on a poor little hillside farm in the toe of boot-shaped Italy, where 47-year-old Claudio Bianchi scratches out a meager existence for himself, old dog Garibaldi, goat Cherubino, three cows, a pig, and three cats. Claudio writes poetry, too, and one day a golden-white unicorn appears to him as a gentle reminder of the freedom animals and humans have lost. The unicorn becomes the one miracle of Claudio’s life—and the ultimate tourist attraction. He protects her as best he can from hordes of reporters, television crews and helicopters, animal rights activists, yearning yokels, and even the Calabrian ’Ndràngheta mob. After Claudio helps the unicorn deliver her colt, his heart, frozen by an earlier tragedy, warms to Giovanna, the intrepid 20-ish sister of the postman. Neatly playing the strictures of Claudio’s simple rural life against the shimmering wildness of the unicorn, Beagle’s kindly fable shows how a man who seems to have nothing can really have everything—with just a touch of magic.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A novella about love in a world of hardship, loss, magic, and recovery. Beagle's unicorns have never been more bewitching, impossible, and genuine. I cherished every page.”
—Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked and After Alice
“At his best, [Beagle] combines earthy practicality with
delight and bewildered joy, and his work usually nestles folklore and modern
concerns side-by-side. In Calabria upholds
that pattern.”
—NPR
“Peter S. Beagle’s story of an Italian farmer encountering a
gravid unicorn, is reminiscent of his 1968 masterpiece THE LAST UNICORN. But
the new book emphasizes the interior transformations caused by this mythical animal.
A simultaneous affair between 50-ish widower Claudio Bianchi and a fierce
motorcyclist young enough to be his daughter reads alternately as metaphor for
the irrationality and vulnerability of love and as simple wish fulfillment. The
unicorn colt’s sire, black and furious, appears near the book’s end as
counterbalance to the dam’s white beauty, a compelling vision of the positive
masculine principle lacking in Beagle’s early work.”
—Seattle Review of
Books
“For me, Peter S. Beagle is one of the essential voices in American literature, so essential that I approach each new book he writes not only with excitement but also with trepidation. Can he possibly do it again? Today I read In Calabria from cover to cover. He does it again.”
—Kevin Brockmeier, bestselling author of The Brief History of the Dead
“Peter S. Beagle is a master of the magical, but also of the little details of day to day existence that root his characters in the soil, sweat and everyday breezes of their worlds, and make the magical all the more magical when it touches them. It’s deep and powerful magic that stirs things to life in the gentle fable of In Calabria, but what it stirs—greed, peril, beauty, grief, love, publicity, sorrow, poetry and more—are very much matters of the human heart. Beagle once again explores the magic within us and the magic around us, and does it in unmatched style.”
—Kurt Busiek, author of Astro City and The Avengers
“Peter Beagle weaves his trademark magic deep in the Italian countryside, using threads of the everyday and the fantastical: poetry and pigs, Mafia bosses and terrible beauty, love and rage, the sacred born of the profane. In Calabria holds the power to transform, like the touch of the unicorn at its heart.”
—Laurie R. King, author of the Mary Russell series (The Beekeeper's Apprentice)
“What a wondrous gift it is to have a new unicorn story from Peter S. Beagle! In Calabria is both elegant and earthy, with a slow build of wonder, and then tension, and then growing dread that propels the reader inexorably toward the miraculous conclusion. Once again Peter Beagle demonstrates why he is one of the greatest fantasy writers of all time!”
—Bruce Coville, author of The Unicorn Chronicles
“In Calabria is smart, heart-touching, specific and metaphoric at the same time, lyrical, stunning. And anyone who writes or wants to write, or loves to read, should read it. I am just that bowled over by it.”
—Jane Yolen, author Briar Rose, Sister Emily's Lightship, The Devil's Arithmetic, and Sister Light, Sister Dark
“A lyrical modern fairy tale, In Calabria is a lovely tale of finding magic in our world and the importance of protecting it while we have it. It’s the hopeful kind of story we all need right now.”
—SciFiNow
“In Calabria is a gorgeous story shaped with elegant prose and stunning imagery . . . It is a unicorn story. It is a coming of age story. It is a story of forgiveness and a story of love. In Calabria will speak to each and every reader that ventures through its pages.
—So Many Books, So Little Time
“Beauty, imagination, poetry and magic . . . Beagle has that rare gift – the ability, within just a few words, to transport the reader completely into his universe, making the unfamiliar become vividly real. 10/10 stars.”
—Starburst
“This is a lovely story and well worth a read.”
—Paperblog
“Magical realism at its best, In Calabria is a modern incarnation of the unicorn fable! Lyrical and sweet, Beagle’s elegant prose reinforces the quiet joy of an old man’s attempt to capture the impossible magic of a moment through poetry.”
—Read Well
“It is truly a romantic tale of love and loss and how hope never really abandons us.”
—Nerds of a Feather
“In Calabria is a lovingly crafted paean to redemption.”
—Green Man Review
“A return to form for the man who did for unicorns what Tolkien has done for elves and dwarves.”
—Critical Writ
“Beagle writes a modern fairy tale with so much heart and grace, and rather than the world he writes being transformed by it, it’s the characters who are changed deeply and utterly by unfathomable events . . . Pick this book up, you won’t regret it.”
—Pop Culture Beast
“With the deft touch of a master storyteller, Peter S. Beagle weaves a strong thread of mythology into this gorgeous and emotional tale about love, sacrifice, and courage. Reading In Calabria is like stepping through a veil and into a dream, crossing into that secret and magical place where everyday life comes face to face with the fantastical. It’s an unforgettable, stunning experience.”
—Bibliosanctum
“Lyrical, touching and exquisitely beautiful . . . a
delicious and noteworthy masterpiece. Highly recommended.”
—Risingshadow
“Stays tantalizing to the end. Beagle’s many fans will be
pleased.”
—Booklist
“Short,
lyrical, and romantic.”
—Templeton Gate
“There is more magic and romantic dignity in this novel,
brimming with wisdom.”
—Missourian
“Beautifully simplistic, wonderful prose, subdued
fantasy, a hint of romance tempered with an underlying streak of potential
violence. I enjoyed this[—] in fact I
was fascinated by it enough to read it in one sitting.”
—The Speculative Herald
“The lovely use of metaphor, allusions, and imagery make the
details of In Calabria shine like opals in a riverbed.”
—Foreword Reviews
“No one else makes unicorns look so elegant, pure, and
beautiful than author Peter S. Beagle, and in this new story he reminds fans
what a great job he can do when it comes writing about them.”
—Open Book Society
“Beagle weaves a magical story, his lyrical prose dancing
across the page.”
—Dueling Librarians
“This novel shows that beauty is more
than an idea.”
—World Magazine
Praise for Peter S. Beagle
“[Beagle] has been compared, not unreasonably, with Lewis Carroll and J. R. R. Tolkien, but he stands squarely—and triumphantly—on his own feet.”
—The Saturday Review
“… One of my favorite writers.”
—Madeleine L’Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time
“Peter S. Beagle illuminates with his own particular magic such commonplace matters as ghosts, unicorns, and werewolves. For years a loving readership has consulted him as an expert on those hearts’ reasons that reason does not know.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin, author of A Wizard of Earthsea
“The only contemporary to remind one of Tolkien.”
—Booklist
“Peter S. Beagle is (in no particular order) a wonderful writer, a fine human being, and a bandit prince out to steal readers’ hearts.”
—Tad Williams, author of Tailchaser's Song
“It’s a fully rounded region, this other world of Peter Beagle’s imagination.”
—Kirkus
“Not only does Peter Beagle make his fantasy worlds come vividly, beautifully alive; he does it for the people who enter them.”
—Poul Anderson, author of The High Crusade
“Peter S. Beagle is the magician we all apprenticed ourselves to. Before all the endless series and shared-world novels, Beagle was there to show us the amazing possibilities waiting in the worlds of fantasy, and he is still one of the masters by which the rest of the field is measured.”
—Lisa Goldstein, author of The Red Magician
“Peter S. Beagle would be one of the century’s great writers in any arena he chose.”
—Edward Bryant, author of Cinnabar
Marketing Plan
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Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781616962487 |
PRICE | $19.95 (USD) |
PAGES | 176 |
Links
Featured Reviews
The Last Unicorn has long been one of the most precious things. When I was little it was my favourite film which I watched over and over again. When I found out it was a book I of course had to read it and it fast became one of my favourite books. I grew up believing nobody else knew about it, like it was my secret thing and then I discovered there was this whole fan base who loved it too and that only served to make it even more special.
So of course when I found out there was a new unicorn book by Peter S Beagle I just HAD to read it. This one is slightly different though. Set in modern day Italy on a ramshackle old farm owned by a grumpy 'old' man it does not at first appear to have any of the magic of The Last Unicorn. Stay with it though. Very similar in style to Summerlong it takes a while for the magic to build up. Finally we have a unicorn on the premises and with it, magical things begin to happen.
What I've always loved about Peter S Beagle's unicorn novels is the sacred, ethereal characteristics of the unicorns. The amazing power they have behind them makes them also dark but pure at the same time. Like the magic of Tolkien it's unexpected, it's imperfect but it's wonderful.
Claudio Bianchi lives alone on his farm in Southern Italy, a self-professed grump who just wants to enjoy his little bit of land, his animals, and write his poems when the mood strikes him. But an unexpected and impossible visitor changes everything.
For how can a person stay determinedly grumpy and insular when faced with the grace of a unicorn?
Bianchi's world becomes much larger than he had ever intended or wanted with the addition of a unicorn, and he faces the reality that this is a secret that is going to resist being kept.
In Calabria is a gorgeous story shaped with elegant prose and stunning imagery. In Bianchi we have a very human protagonist who shifts and changes bit by bit as the story progresses. Once could say all the changes are a result of contact with the unicorn. It is this reader's opinion that the unicorn might be the catalyst, but Bianchi grows through his own volition. Its an ancient story, humans changing after meeting a unicorn. Beagle has provided a modern incarnation of the tale, and it is a much needed bit of beauty and quiet joy.
It is a unicorn story. It is a coming of age story. It is a story of forgiveness and a story of love. In Calabria will speak to each and every reader that ventures through its pages.
On a small dilapidated hillside farm in southern Italy, curmudgeon Claudio Bianchi lives a simple life with his few animals, fending off his only regular visitor, the mailman, who talks too much and rudely asks to hear Bianchi’s poetry. (Bianchi writes poetry occasionally, but only for himself.) One morning, a pregnant golden-white unicorn appears, seeming to choose Bianchi’s farm as the place of birth for her unborn calf. Soon, word gets out, and Bianchi must protect his new-found inspiration from hordes of reporters, television crews, animal rights activists, trophy hunters, and the Calabrian ’Ndràngheta mob.
Magical realism at its best, In Calabria is a modern incarnation of the unicorn fable! Lyrical and sweet, Beagle’s elegant prose reinforces the quiet joy of an old man’s attempt to capture the impossible magic of a moment through poetry. The unicorn is an embodiment of all that is sacred, pure, powerful, and free, starkly contrasted against the earthy farm with its old goat and three-legged cat. But although Bianchi cannot fathom the unicorn’s presence, his time with her kindles a delicate passion for the magic of the mundane in his own life.
The plot employs simple archetypes, including a mustache-twirling villain and a new love for Bianchi twenty years younger, which taken out of context might be bothersome, but Beagle uses these tropes to his advantage in such a short, simple, and gently profound story.
Recommended for fans of heartfelt imaginative fairy tales like Howl’s Moving Castle, The Neverending Story, and Stardust!
When Peter S. Beagle’s name shares a cover with a picture of a unicorn, it’s easy to make assumptions. Let me assure you that In Calabria is nothing at all like The Last Unicorn. Though it features the same creature, this story is not a fairytale. It’s a journey of discovery and redemption with just enough magic to inspire you to believe the impossible.
(The rest of the review is forthcoming from Buzzymag.com, will update with the link when it is posted.)
Claudio Bianchi, a crusty not-so-old hermit, farms an aging plot of land in rural Southern Italy. At first glance, he is not very prepossessing; he’s crotchety, battered, and solitary. He also has a secret: he writes poetry. One day a unicorn appears on his land, and she too has a secret, one that will forever transform their lives. Like everything else by Peter S. Beagle I’ve ever read, this short work brims with earthy magic and tenderness. He has the ability to take a character who at first glance is not particularly appealing (middle-aged, grouchy hermit with dubious social skills and personal hygiene) and draw us into that character’s world, weaving the threads of our own disappointments, humdrum lives, deferred dreams. Claudio has all but given up on his dreams, so much so that he no longer knows what they once were until the impossibly magical creature touches the dreamer within him. In Calabria is not The Last Unicorn, but they share that sense of longing and transcendence, and offer the same thoughtful, immensely satisfying reading experience.
In Calabria
by Peter S. Beagle
Having adored The Last Unicorn, in film, and having read the book in its original format, I have adored this poignant author and his sad longing he writes about. In Calabria he captures the wonderment and beauty of the human soul, and the mythical clandestine unicorn. The films songs have always haunted me since childhood. I love the beauty of their expression and to know that Peter Beagle was involved in the screenplay I am ecstatic. To know the author’s involvement in the movie made it the masterpiece i find it.
In Calabria like the Last Unicorn, the world does not believe, until a single man, and a single woman find themselves in the presence of a Unicorn in need. Because of their temperament and and adoring belief not only is the Unicorn saved but the Unicorn is who in the end protects them. This is not the pronounced meaning of the story, but that Love, is the Unicorn around the world. Bianchi and Geo find love, and mutual devotion to each other. I am amazed by the beauty within the story, and long to read more of Bianchi Unicorn inspired poetry. The dreamy world of a small rural Italian farm being the background to the poignant tale, enhances the magic.
There is no place more sacred or magical as where a Unicorn is born.
I love this book even more than I loved The Last Unicorn,. Although it sounds strange to say it, this story makes unicorns seem realistic. The personalities, and the unicorns, seem possible to meet one day. It is a sweet and realistic modern-day fairy tale.
Thank you to Netgalley, Tachyon Publications, and Peter S. Beagle for the chance to read and review this ARC;
I have been in love with The Last Unicorn since I was a young girl, from the very first time that I saw the cartoon. I chased the movie into move theatre showings, dedicated myself to finding a copy The Two Hearts and The Last Unicorn: The Forgotten Edition, owning the comics, and getting all of the above signed when I had the chance to meet Peter.
So, you can guess how hard and fast I jumped at the chance to read another Beagle unicorn story, and In Calabria did not disappointed in the slightest. From the first words, first sentences, first chapter you are pulled into a rich, old world, with deep feelings, deeper shadows, and more 'golden' magic than first meets the eye. As with many of Beagle's Tales it is one about redemption, love, and faith deeper than jadedness at its very core of themselves.
You will be swept away by a farmer who writes poetry, and magical creatures of the most innocence. Get this as soon as you possibly can.
I love The Last Unicorn, and I had little doubt that I would love In Calabria.
While Calabria is less polished than Beagle's other works it is a beautiful exploration of character, grief, and redemption. Calabria is very short. The themes, events, and characters could have been explored in greater depth, but the brief, concise narrative still manages to convey the emotional evolution of the main character. It's as though Beagle is able to use every word to develop and capture the world and characters, nothing wasted or superfluous. Beagle has a tendency to take his stories places I don't want them to go (the developing romance), but every time (EVERY TIME!) his storytelling choices are perfectly executed that I can't imagine a better turn of events.
More than anything else—his unfailingly beautiful prose, his ability to weave threads of emotional truth into stories of the fantastic, his knack for writing stories that land with a soft touch and leave the impact of a hammer blow—Peter S. Beagle’s long literary career has been defined by unicorns.
There’s the protagonist of his most famous work, The Last Unicorn (called Lady Amalthea when in human guise), who is perhaps the most famous unicorn of all. Just last year, he published In Calabria, a slender, wistful novel about the appearance of unicorns in a small Italian town. It inverts many of The Last Unicorn‘s themes, and serves as an interesting late-career mirror to a book that is now nearly 50 years old.
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