The Sky Of Nadira
Giovanni Mongiovì
Sicily, 11th century. Nadira is an innocent girl of Berber origins, who lives with submission the impositions of her brother; for examples when he told her that she will have to become one of the wives of the emir of her city. However, his eyes are something strange and bewitching that they attract the attention of more than one pretender. Soon the fame of a curse spreads: men who meet his gaze cannot help but desire and try to have it. The very eyes of Nadira, and that boundless sky that they remember, will be the cause of the outbreak of the last war that the Muslim Sicily will experience. Meanwhile, the de Hauteville brothers, fearsome Norman warriors, are waiting to take advantage of any pretext, so that they can cross the sea in order to begin a crusade against the Moors.
”Can there really exist something so extraordinarily irresistible and cursed as to irreparably shake the desires of those who watch it?” Nadira's atypical blue eyes seem to prove that this is the case.
Sicily, 11th century. We are in the latest period of Arab domination: the emirs of the main cities of the island are fighting a war between each other and the Christian forces are waiting for an excuse to intervene so as to undertake their holy war against the Muslim enemy. Nadira is an innocent Berber girl who lives with submission the impositions of her brother; like when he told her that she will have to become one of the wives of the emir of her city. However, her eyes are something strange and bewitching that attract the attention of more than one pretender. Soon the fame of a curse spreads: men who meet his gaze cannot help but they desire and try to have it. The very eyes of Nadira, and that boundless sky that they remember, will be the cause of the outbreak of the last war that Muslim Sicily will ever experience. Meanwhile, the de Hauteville brothers, fearsome Norman warriors, are waiting to take advantage of any pretext, so that they can cross the sea in order to begin a crusade against the Moors. Corrado, a Norman too, moves in all of this, but raised among Sicilian Christians. His ambition is boundless and his revenge against Muslim rulers stronger than common sense. Corrado's fate will eventually cross with the ”sky of Nadira” and with the mystery that hides behind the nature of those eyes. But only if he can reveal what binds a man's heart to the desire that subjects him to evil, he will be able to overcome the danger that Nadira's beauty represents. The war is still raging, which has now become a clash of cultures and religions, when the fragile sprout of tolerance begins to emerge from the ground of hatred ... hope cured by those who have been able to put their soul's concerns in order. A multicultural setting, a story told from all perspectives, an objective story with a current flavour, a novel that lovers of adventure historical fiction cannot ignore.
Giovanni Mongiovì
THE SKY OF NADIRA
Regnum
On the cover: Luana’s eyes (with courtesy);
A norman shield, Athens, Museum of war.
giovannimongiovi.com (http://giovannimongiovi.com)
Copyright © 2019 - Giovanni Mongiovì
Copyright © 2020 - Arianna Raimondi (translator)
I don't need to write something indescribable,
that try without success the description of the immensely perfect,
the awareness I am raising is already poetry,
the highest and pure, written by intangible hands,
conceived by an excellent mind,
inspired by a huge heart;
my love, we ended up in the art of God:
"that one being loves another with ever more indissoluble love".
That I love you more every day ...
To Valentina and Tommaso ... lustru dê me òcchii ...
Summary
Introduction 6
PART I – THE STRANGER TIED TO THE POLE 7
Chapter 1 8
Chapter 2 12
Chapter 3 18
Chapter 4 20
Chapter 5 22
Chapter 6 26
Chapter 7 33
Chapter 8 35
Chapter 9 40
Chapter 10 45
Chapter 11 48
Chapter 12 52
Chapter 13 58
Chapter 14 62
PART II – THE WAR OF THE QĀ’IDS 67
Chapter 15 68
Chapter 16 72
Chapter 17 76
Chapter 18 79
Chapter 19 82
Chapter 20 86
Chapter 21 89
PART III – THE TRUCE OF MUḤARRAM 91
Chapter 22 92
Chapter 23 98
Chapter 24 102
Chapter 25 107
Chapter 26 111
Chapter 27 116
Chapter 28 118
PART IV – THE RETURN OF CONRAD 121
Chapter 29 122
Chapter 30 125
Chapter 31 128
Chapter 32 133
Chapter 33 138
Chapter 34 141
Chapter 35 146
PART V - THE PLOTS OF POWER 150
Chapter 36 151
Chapter 37 154
Chapter 38 157
Chapter 39 161
Chapter 40 167
Chapter 41 172
Chapter 42 179
PART VI – THE CURSE OF PENTHESILEA 183
Chapter 43 184
Chapter 44 188
Chapter 45 194
Chapter 46 199
Chapter 47 204
Chapter 48 209
Chapter 49 213
PART VII - THE CONDITIONS OF FREEDOM 218
Chapter 50 219
Chapter 51 224
Chapter 52 228
Chapter 53 235
Regnum - The coral hunter 243
Others wotks of the autor 244
Biography 245
Introduction
No matter how many rivers flow into the sea, they will never have the name of the waters where they throw themselves for the simply motive that the sea cannot be a reason for a river. In the same way, the beginning cannot replace the definition of the end, nor can it exceed its importance. Look at the source of a river, at the high cliffs from which it flows, taste its waters, and give it a name based on this. It is not the action that makes a man, it is not the hand that perform the action, the reason for everything is the heart. The essence of original sin was not to pick the fruit, but all that moved that gesture. The greed can hide everywhere: in the succulent meat, in the redness of wine, in the shapes of a girl... or at least it is so that justifies himself who surrenders. The truth is that it hides exclusively in the eyes and hearts of those who feel that consuming fire, that devouring flame that is lust.
Among the illustrious of these people descendants of ancient Greek, a story was told. It was a story that survived the baptism of Christianity and the sword of Islam. Penthesilea, a powerful Amazon, was called to fight in defence of the Trojans. She was a beautiful woman and, as often happens in Greek myths, the goddesses envied her. For this reason, Aphrodite wanted to punish her with the most terrible sentence: every man who had seen her, would have felt such an unstoppable desire to have her, and for certain he would have tried to rape her. Penthesilea hid under her armour for as long as she could, except that, during a battle, Achilles killed her and stripped her of her weapons. Only then was it evident that Penthesilea's curse overcame the same death: in fact, Achilles could not resist it ...
Beyond the myth, can something so extraordinarily irresistible and cursed really exist to stir the wishes of those who watch it? A beauty of such power to let the malice of hearts emerge, but also ambivalent, as it can bring out the noble virtues in the soul of the deserving.
The following story is the first of many others about men and women, about blood that binds each of them to their own past and the future. It is the story of this land, its peoples, its wars, its vices and its dormant qualities. However, what follows is the first, and being such is therefore the original ...
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