by Mark Tedesco
Reviewed byEileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D.
This is a gentle story about what matters. The author lived in Rome for an extended period of time and has written several books in regard to his stay there. His story begins with the family living in Greece. This happened because of the construction of the Parthenon and another family, thousands of years later, eking out a living at the base of the Acropolis. Life in present day Athens had become a series of duties and obligations for Akil until Draco, a stray dog, visited his sheep in the Plaka. The repercussions of the meeting of this man and his dog would unfold as he visited his sheep in the Plaka. The repercussions of the meeting would unfold in unforeseen ways that would impact the lives around him.
As happened every night, Draco climbed the hill and his dreams transported him thousands of years into the past, before this Parthenon was built, where another dog, Daria, lived there. The narrative takes the reader to Greece’s Golden Age. In which Daria would scamper up the hill to keep up with Adelino, a stone cutter working on the new temple, and his son Tiro. The lives of Phidias, the architect of the Parthenon, Adelino and Diana his wife, as well as Tiro their son, would intersect in unexpected ways. The story brings the reader back into the present where both worlds eventually coincide and the lives of those around Draco and Daria are forever redefined. The book is full of description of the interaction of the people mentioned. It is rich in description. It is meant for a specific audience that emphasizes the social emotional aspect of reading.