Arcangelo Vidi, a middle-aged man in Florence, is tormented, torn between a painting and his wife.

In late-nineteenth-century St. Petersburg, Fyodor Petrov returns from the dead and can still juggle, although not very well.

Gabriella Sammartini, a talented young mezzo-soprano in Venice, dreams of becoming a hatcheck girl.

In medieval England, Eldred the Shoemakers Son is blessed with an unusual number of noses and multiple pairs of shoes.

A Parisian woman carries seven tears with her wherever she goes.

Such are the Lives of the Saints

the matically-related, centuriesspanning character studies set mostly in Europe and almost entirely on Earth. By turns poignant and funny, tragic and absurd, Lives of the Saints is at once a thought-provoking meditation on time, mortality, and love, and an entertaining compendium of sheer silliness.

In this finely crafted collection of gems, Frank Arricale displays a remarkable range of expression. Whether dealing with the heartbreak of loss or the inanity of everyday life, he demonstrates a brilliant sense of timing and a keen awareness of the human condition.