Twenty-something Ceseli Larson is mourning the recent death of her cherished father. His passing comes as she prepares to undertake a planned but harrowing expedition to the lost ruins of Axum. Axum, capital of an ancient kingdom and the possible resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, was also once the famous home of the Queen of Sheba. Ceseli hopes to uncover its long-forgotten archaeological mysteries.
What she does not count on, though, is that Benito Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia looms on the horizon, about to be unleashed, sending an already dangerous journey into chaos. Nor does she expect the feeling she discovers for a young Italian doctor, nor the romance that blossoms between them.
Love in the Land of Barefoot Soldiers is a sweeping tale of romance and war, as Ceseli is caught between the movements of empires and her growing love. History and the destruction of the modern era collide in this exciting drama.
ISBNs
979-8986271828
Genres
Historical World War II & Holocaust Fiction
Military Historical Fiction
264 pages
Language: English
Imprint: Stonesong Digital
Born and raised in New York City, Frances Vieta later lived in Rome, Italy for twenty-seven years as a journalist/writer for both the American and Italian media including Time Magazine and Reader’s Digest. Her expert articles include terrorism, art and food.
For much of that time she worked with the specialized offices of the Italian government as a would-be buyer to recover Italian stolen art.
She has been a consultant with the United Nations with frequent travel in Africa and on several occasions, Ethiopia.
She lives in New York and has two grown children.
Reviews
“Love in the Land of Barefoot Soldiers” is an electrifying novel and it never ceases to thrill and amaze. The author, Frances Vieta, has an exquisite eye for detail and one is plunged visually and viscerally into the stultifying heat of the desert, the brilliant colors of the Royal court, and the acrid smell of war. It is a beautifully written tale about the power of love, of courage and the heartbreak of irreplaceable loss. It is a vibrant odyssey of the history of Ethiopia.
Vieta has written a sensitive yet exciting narrative about a woman confronting both personal loss and the loss of the world as she knows it. Anyone interested in world war II will be fascinated by this unusual story.
A fascinating look at a little-remembered prelude to World War II, LOVE IN THE LAND OF BAREFOOT SOLDIERS is history wrapped in a romance, the search for clues to an ancient enigma interrupted by the brutality of modern war. Ethiopia, one of Africa’s most beautiful and ancient civilizations, is invaded by Italy in 1935, engulfing one woman and three men in the drama of history. A small war studiously ignored by the great powers, this conflict provides a brilliant backdrop for unexpected heroism in battle, self-sacrifice in the defense of deep-seated values, The central character, Ceseli Larson, is a remarkably independent woman who is nonetheless drawn by a mystery that dates back to the time of the Crusades.