Peter Barbieri's Book One

Peter Barbieri's mesmerizing Book One of his trilogy depicts the resentment, suspicion, and intrigue that direct the lives of one Native American family living in North America prior to the European invasion. Book One begins with the birth of a son and ends with two brothers fight-to-the-death.

The Purple Sky is an account of Emily Madding's (b. 1765, d. 1857) dream visits to a small Native American village. In a manner most mysterious and uncanny, Emily lives the life of Pale-Moon, one of the village's women. Emily defines her relationship with Pale-Moon in this way:

It is as if I am here now, on the tenth of January, 1806, sitting at my desk, living a life as wife and mother — a life with a memory, history, and a fancied future — and yet I am vaguely aware of a ubiquitous presence hovering in an indefinable space; a presence that connects me to all that has been and to all that will be. In so far as the Native American woman is concerned, Emily is her ubiquitous presence, and she [Pale-Moon] is to a certain extent aware of it.

Through Emily, Pale-Moon narrates the compelling story of her people's struggle to maintain a harmonious existence within a world teetering on the brink of transfiguration.

Barbieri's previous works of fiction Tales From the Soft Underbelly of Confusion, a collection of short stories, and Tree Of Dreams, a novel, were published by Iuiverse in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

Peter Barbieri received his doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He completed his post-doctoral studies with Luciano Berio in Florence, Italy.

For the past twenty-five years, Barbieri has been touring the United States and Europe as pianist/accompanist for the Nancy Spanier Dance Company. Currently, Dr. Barbieri is the executive director of the Ijamjazz summer jazz camp in Bonefro, Italy, and teaches Jazz Theory and Improvisation in Boulder, Colorado.