Love Sings Like the Nightingale

The year is 1693 and it is a time when the Kingdom of Sicily was part of the Spanish Empire and ruled by local barons. Roberto Calamia (a humble, thirty-year-old carpenter and unpublished poet) is in love with wealthy, world-wise and deep-feeling Isabella Attino (a beautiful opera singer in her late twenties) who lives with her father and two sisters in a rural Sicilian town called Paternò, in the province of Catania, a short distance from the slopes of Mount Etna. Isabella is in love with Roberto, but she doesn’t wish to confess her love to him. Instead, she holds back her true feelings – as the last time she experienced love with someone she ended up being emotionally hurt and betrayed and, understandably, doesn't wish to be hurt again. Isabella’s sisters encourage Isabella to be more considerate and trusting towards Roberto instead of being guarded, cold and distant, but Isabella doesn't heed their advice and issues Roberto with a challenge, in order for him to prove his love and worthiness, and sends him on a perilous journey to the dangerous slopes of Mount Etna, where he must ascend to its fiery, poisonous-fumed summit. This is a powerful and moving love story that focuses on the themes of trust, regret and emotional self-preservation. Love Sings like the Nightingale is a short play which comprises six scenes over three acts. The book features a writer's note, a table of contents, the cast and sets, the play, and the writer's biography.