Biographies
Constantino, A True Story by Constantin Coralis (available in English, Greek, or Italian)

[Code : 9781418435547] Constantino, A True Story by Constantin Coralis (available in English, Greek, or Italian)

This product is currently unavailable for purchase.

It is 1940, the war in Greece is over. In the town of Vela a seminary has been made into an Italian military hospital. One day, the hospital cook, Enzo Martolini, is stirring a large pot of spaghetti in his open kitchen. Some of the spaghetti spills onto the ground and he notices it quickly disappear. At first, he thinks of some sort of animal but quickly realizes the sad reality; a small Greek boy that bears some resemblance to a human being has crawled there and gulped down the food as quickly as it hit the ground.

The boy's name is Costantino, a nine year old orphan, reduced to a skeleton, one leg terribly crippled, ragged and filthy. Without hesitation, the cook takes the boy in, feeds him and takes him to the infirmary for medical attention. With the permission of the Head Doctor Umberto Giovaninetti, the cook adopts the boy who quickly learns to speak Italian and earns his keep as an interpreter for people that come daily for food and medical help from surrounding villages. In 1943, the Italians surrendered to the Allies and the German army captured the Italian soldiers... Costantino's beautiful new life ends and once again he finds himself alone roaming the streets.

In 1953, Costantino migrates to Brazil, while Martolini has returned to Italy, married and had a son. However, every so often he would talk to his family about the other son, the "son of affection" that had been left behind in Greece. What has happened to him?

Then, one evening in June 1976, Enzo Martolini is having dinner with his family. The doorbell rings and a tall distinguished gentleman appears. The eyes of all flash a question mark; What does this man want? "Dad, don't you recognize me?" says the visitor in a mixture of Italian and Portuguese.

This is Constantin Coralis' second book. His other books include the novel Cathy, The Girl From Utah and the autobiographical Haunted by My Past.

in English.  Softcover  533pages.
in Greek. HardCover.  564pages. 

    More Pictures

Categories


Newsletter Signup

Facebook Feed