The wandering path - Carlo Ardito

From the start, intriguing events ultimately spanning over half a century follow the progress of Walter Napley and set the tone of this Anglo-Italian novel. From its beginnings in fascist northern Italy in the early 1940s, it reaches into the London of the 1950s and 1970s, drawing on the author's personal experiences of the London theatre of the time. Walter's initial estrangement from his parents includes a tragicomic sudden death during a rehearsal at La Scala. Followed by isolation from his musically-gifted mother, Walter comes to view the arts as both trivial and dangerous, and opts for a life as a business entrepreneur. His material success assumes global dimensions, and a politicallly bizarre extrication from the jaws of disaster eventually steers him towards calmer seas.