I'll Steal You Away

In a tiny Italian village Pietro Moroni is growing up bullied by classmates and ignored by his parents. When slick aging playboy Graziano Biglia returns to town, change is in the air. Pietro is emboldened to take on the bullies, and his favorite lonely teacher, Flora, steals a few hours of bliss with the town's prodigal son. But when Graziano pulls a love-her-and-leave-her on Flora, the tentative hopes of both Flora and Pietro seem crushed forever. Flora's ruined heart makes her forget the helpless child depending on her, and so Pietro edges closer and closer to disaster as his dreams come tumbling down one by one around him.With profound tenderness, Niccolo Ammaniti shines light on the broken hearts and misbegotten dreams of ordinary folks striving only for slightly better lives. Through the eyes of a fragile boy and a self-aggrandizing small-town lothario, he shows how two very different people each come to realize that redemption must come from within.(from front flap of hardcover edition)