Island Beyond the Moon

Story Overview

An award-winning story about one of the remote Aeolian islands off Sicily/Italy, a volcanic archipelago which is a UNESCO World Heritage Area. First published in German in Switzerland.

Plot Summary

What happens when a 23-year old student takes his books and leaves Switzerland for the south of Italy? He finds an island of 9.5 square kilometers, which others have left in search of work in Australia, Argentina and the USA.

The villages on this island are like ruined ghost towns covered in ferns. Geckoes and snakes live in the houses. The student works alongside the last inhabitants through winter storms and earthquakes. He makes wine and bakes bread. He lives with very little money on the borderline of civilization in a cavern in the mountain. Roaming a wild, untouched nature.

Turning Point

One morning he is standing on a mountain in front of a ruin and has the strange feeling of having come home. On the very same day, a contract is signed. The poet of the islands sells the ruin to the poet from Northern Europe. Together they plant a palm-tree.

Conclusion

That is the end of the dream of a house on the island. And the beginning of reality. A true story.

Awards and Reception

In 1993 Roland Zoss received a literary award from the City of Berne for this little book, which was first published in German. The author transforms language into perfumes and sounds, into impressions and landscapes, with intense and stunning pictures.