About

My upcoming Novel Questions from the Heart takes place in a small village in Tuscany.

FROM THE PROLOGUE

If my Bis-Nonna (Great Grandma) had remained in Italy, she would have been recognized as a member of a select group known as Fattucchiere, a cluster of Italian women innately blessed with healing powers that evolved from the superstition and folk magic of their ancient land. I was lucky to have spent my earliest years in her company, often observing her treatment sessions, which were my newest inspirations to pursue a career in medicine. She was an intuitive and kind woman whose perceptions remain a part of me. I tend to refer to them out of habit when the need arises—like a mariner checking his maps for guidance in uncharted seas. My wife, Susie, and I found ourselves here—in unchartered territory—when she accidentally discovered an old, rundown house in the small Tuscan hill town of Rifugiamo. It was there that we met Iva. 

I am one of those who believe that all is in little.— Alexander Dumas, Camille

— Alexander Dumas, Camille

ONE OF MY STORIES WAS RECENTLY FEATURED IN NARRATIVE MAGAZINE

Shiny Things

A STORY
BY LUKE MAGNOTTO

I WAS WORKING in the canned goods section of my uncles’ grocery store on a warm Friday afternoon in June, putting up a flat of canned green beans, when the bell above the entry door rang, signaling the arrival of a customer. Early afternoons were usually slow, as on this day when the narrow aisles were empty of shoppers, making it a good time to restock the shelves. During this quiet period, my two uncles were in the back room carving a side of beef that had arrived after lunch. Their wives were coordinating the charge accounts, verbally exchanging the amounts from the hand-written files next to the two cash registers, to come up with a grand total that the customers usually paid every other Saturday, the day after the steel mills in our small city paid their workers. When the entry bell rang, my aunts went silent and then greeted the lone customer, Mrs. Kuharish.

Everything about Mrs. Kuharish would lead you to believe that she was a regular old lady and not a minor criminal. Like a lot of older women in town, her practical style reflected the struggles and shortages of an earlier era…