The Vine Whisperer is a novella about growing up in western Sicily, and about the extraordinary story that lies behind the tranquil vineyards of Tarantola.
Filippo Testa was born in Palermo, the son of a Sicilian count. As a young man he was determined to follow a career as a jazz pianist but when his father died he decided to take on the challenge of running the family vineyards. Unschooled in the ways of the countryside, spurred on by the challenge of reviving what was by then a failing and unproductive estate, and driven by a strange but irresistible fascination for the unknown, he launched himself into a world of joy, wonder and fear that was to change his life forever. Based on stories, diary entries and interviews collated by Filippo Testa and Susannah Elliott, The Vine Whisperer interweaves fact, fiction and poetry into a thrilling chronicle of life in the vineyards of western Sicily.
Available from Amazon and the publisher.
Also sold in Palermo at Libreria del Corso, Via Vittorio Emanuele 332.
(Amazon UK can ship the book beyond Britain, and the ebook can be purchased from various Amazon sites.)
