“Adele and Oliver”, the new novel by Paul Sterling, receives the important Special Mention of the XXIII Vittorio Alfieri Literature Competition in Asti.
Between realism and fairy tale, in Adele and Oliver, Paul Sterling tells an extraordinary story of courage and inspiration that has as its protagonist a little girl, girl and woman and her magical dog and faithful friend.
“Adele and Oliver. The wind of dreams” the splendid new novel by Paul Sterling published by AEDE Books, masterfully blends realism and fairy tale and receives the important Special Mention of the XXIII Vittorio Alfieri Literature Competition in Asti.
With a pressing and cinematic pace, Paul Sterling accompanies the reader through the events of the protagonist, revealing that true strength lies in the diversity of human experiences and in always believing in one’s dreams because true strength lies in the heart and mind, and each individual, in his or her uniqueness and particularity, contains an infinite potential within himself.
The preface of the book is edited by Eugenio Finardi who emphasizes how in dark moments, which are part of everyone’s lives, it is essential to face the storm with courage and determination because “life is precious and is always worth living, to the end, to the last faint flame of light, because a thousand years without intensity and passion are not worth a second truly lived.”
The Publisher, Paolo Menconi, tells us: “I sincerely thank the Jury and the City of Asti and I confess that we are very proud of the award that the book has received because Adele and Oliver is a positive, educational, sometimes poignant book that is good for the heart. In a world where differences often separate, this book celebrates the beauty of life lived to the fullest.
An exciting and extraordinary journey through the life of a child, girl and woman that transforms challenges into opportunities and difficulties into successes, demonstrating the power of human resilience on a daily basis.”
We are pleased to report the Special Mention of the Jury of the Vittorio Alfieri Prize in Asti, for which Paul Sterling was awarded with Adele and Oliver, because they are truly significant words: “There are stories that written in books can become an example to readers. This book has the merit of not being just a set of sheets on which a story is written. In fact, it is a true handbook of life, from despair to joy, from darkness to light, from misfortune to redemption.
The book is embellished with very effective reflections by more than 50 athletes and important personalities from sport, culture, and the social world. These words introduce the themes very well and are already worth a large part of the reading.
The story is written in a light and accurate language, dedicated to adolescent readers, grandparents and parents who can entertain the little ones in nocturnal stories.
The narrative unfolds without falling into the obvious, with the right amount of optimism that contrasts with the adversity of the story.
The mysterious author is good at hiding behind a pseudonym to focus all his attention on the book product, a further note of merit.”
On the subject of disability, studies and research have been produced to try to understand and give answers to the existential condition of a person who, due to birth, illness or accident, is considered different and often even more fragile than other citizens.
The condition of fragility of people is however a concept not to be confused with disability understood in the most well-known forms: one can be fragile due to economic poverty, affective and relational poverty, old age, illness, prejudice and racial stereotype.
Without forgetting the so-called gender fragility which becomes, in the case of women with disabilities, a double discrimination: from the point of view of sexuality, parenthood, work career and public responsibilities.
The same principle must apply to the term diversity (the one who is not equal and similar to others) and both conditions, if exasperated, can make disability more complex.
Sometimes there are also bolder and less realistic points of view (disability is beautiful, the differently abled, the child special) that unintentionally, through linguistic hyperbole, uncritically deny the state of reality of those who daily have to overcome a condition of discomfort and suffering in a society (the collective, the community) designed and equipped for the large numbers of those who are statistically normal.
The community and its institutional articulations, if they are not welcoming and inclusive, can become a barrier and hinder the potential, often unexpressed, of the person with disabilities.
The UN “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” of 1948 recognized, among others, the inalienable rights of people with disabilities; later the 2006 UN Convention changed the lexical register and no longer refers to the disabled person but to the person with disabilities, reaffirming, in its broadest sense, the full enjoyment of the right to life.
There are important studies and research on the idea of disability and we can consult a vast scientific literature on this topic, even with a phenomenal and metahistorical approach, but the limit of these studies – mostly intended for the public of experts and social policy makers – consists in the adoption of a technical language and a narrative that makes the disabled person only a subject of study, a case, a label – the quadriplegic, the down, the autistic – depriving him of personality; in simple terms, it is dehumanized.
In fact, it is difficult to tell the existential condition of people with disabilities, that is, to tell everything related to their personal story and their sentimental sphere.
It is difficult to tell the life, feelings, dreams, disappointments, desires of a person with a disability who has a name, a family, an affection, a conception of the world.
The idea of disability, the character of the disabled, of the fragile and different one, are more approachable when they are told by other figures such as those of artists: poets and writers, painters and musicians, singers, photographers and directors who use not the cold arguments of scientists but the language of emotions to move, impress, seduce and excite.
What is disturbing often puts us in the position of wanting to understand.
A text of passion, set like a gem in a deep context, which offers many food for thought and invites understanding and sincere analysis of oneself.
Paul Sterling is able to dig into the soul of the characters and, consequently, into the human events, allowing us to see all the outline that gives three-dimensionality and truth to the story narrated.
The author enchants us and engages us in the most reflective parts of his work, making the reader also question himself, face a sort of self-analysis session, while witnessing the relationship between the main subjects. It involves us in a love, with all that is beautiful, but does not neglect the difficulties of complex situations that fit together, dragging others into their whirlpool. The author generously delivers them to the public, we slowly come to know everything about them: where they come from and what scars they carry from the past, their present, dreams or lack thereof, expectations that are not even remotely in step with what awaits them, because their love is not sought, it is not wanted, it has many impediments, yet it has the attractive force of a sun around which they orbit.
Next to them is a world made up of people who represent affections, friendships, those strong or important bonds present in the life of each of us.
The narrative is intriguing and the many themes raised and explored by Paul Sterling skilfully mixed with a natural and compelling flow, are rungs of a ladder to climb, milestones of a path to be faced, for the characters and for the reader and cannot escape the natural questioning.
We are confronted with the psychological aftermath, when we have suddenly gone from having a social life to distance, from the joy of encounters to deserted cities.
Passion and feelings, in a narrative formula of change and awareness, this is the novel: depth that enchants in a story that involves.