The Swallows of Montafia

A village of quiet lives, where memory and longing move beneath the surface of ordinary days.

In The Swallows of Montafia, Alan Strauss-Schom crafts a reflective narrative set within the rhythms of rural Italy, where the passage of time is marked as much by absence as by presence. Within its gentle and attentive prose, the novel reveals how lives, though outwardly modest, are shaped by deep currents of memory, attachment, and change.

In the small Piedmontese village of Montafia, generations move through familiar patterns of work, family, and quiet endurance. Yet beneath this continuity lies a subtle awareness of transformation, as the past lingers in stories, gestures, and unspoken ties. Characters return, depart, and remember, each carrying with them fragments of a shared history that binds them to place and to one another. The swallows themselves, arriving and leaving with the seasons, become a quiet emblem of recurrence and departure, reflecting the cycles that define both landscape and life.

Strauss-Schom’s narrative dwells not on dramatic upheaval, but on the accumulation of moments that give shape to human experience. The Swallows of Montafia stands as a meditation on belonging, memory, and the enduring presence of the past within the present.

This Carlini Classics edition presents the complete, unabridged text in a beautifully designed format made to last.

• A lyrical portrait of village life and generational memory
• A subtle exploration of belonging, departure, and return
• A timeless reflection on the quiet shaping of human experience

Available in multiple formats:

• Paperback & Hardcover: Beautifully designed print editions presenting the complete, unabridged text made to last.

• Ebook: DRM-free EPUB compatible with Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and all major e-readers.

• Audiobook: Professionally narrated, complete and unabridged, available on all major audiobook platforms.

Elegantly produced and enduring in form, this edition preserves Strauss-Schom’s contemplative vision in a volume designed for lasting appreciation.

About the author

Alan Strauss-Schom is a distinguished historian and biographer whose work has illuminated the political and military currents of Europe’s past. His major titles include Trafalgar: Countdown to Battle, 1803–1805; One Hundred Days: Napoleon’s Road to Waterloo; and Napoleon Bonaparte: A Biography, a finalist for the Los Angeles TimesBook Prize. His more recent book, The Shadow Emperor: A Biography of Napoleon III, reaffirmed his reputation for meticulous archival research and narrative clarity. Nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Strauss-Schom has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has spent decades tracing the often-hidden threads of history with rigor and grace. He is the founder and first president of the French Colonial Historical Society and established its scholarly journal, French Colonial Studies, expanding the field and fostering a community of inquiry that endures today. In The Swallows of Montafia, he turns that same attentive and discerning gaze toward the story of his own life.