In Calabria is my second book by the author Peter S Beagle, my first being Summerlong. This book has a different feel in that it’s got an earthy realism to it that was unexpected, especially when picking up a book that is clearly going to feature a unicorn. It’s quite beautifully written and the fantasy elements are very ‘quiet’ almost like an aside. Anyway, at the start of the story we are introduced to Claudio Bianchi. Claudio is a forty something year old man living on a remote farm in Southern Italy. He values his privacy and rarely sees anyone else, other than his animals (which are almost as grumpy as he is) and the postman who regularly visits. Claudio is definitely becoming fixed in his ways and a little cantankerous. That is until a unicorn literally arrives on his property one day. I think if I was living such a solitary life and a unicorn turned up on my property I would probably think I’d gone insane and I think at first there is an element of that in Claudio’s reaction. That is until he realises that his visitor keeps returning on a regular basis and it seems has…
