Deceptive appearances, the “vintage yellow” by Livio Frittella

The English major Arthur Cartwright is preparing to celebrate his 70th birthday with joy with his family. He left behind a past of narrow escapes and painful grief, culminating – just a year earlier – with the loss of his second wife Chantal.

Orphaned of his mother, Arthur had lived childhood and adolescence in golden isolation, in the quiet of Wordingham, the country residence, with a distant and distant father, absorbed in the management of his plantations in Saint Lucia, in the Antilles. Moving to tropical Eden after his parent’s death, Arthur had discovered at his expense how a paradise-like island can turn into hell. But, as we know, even a negative experience can have quite exciting implications, such as meeting Lionel, a sincere friend, and the happy meeting with Esther, a girl to marry.

Returning to his homeland on the threshold of the Second World War, Arthur – after having served his country – had begun a comfortable life in his ‘buen retiro’ immersed in the English countryside; a life cheered up by the love for his spouses (Esther first, Chantal then) and for his seven children, and enriched by Lionel’s closeness.

And now, in Wordingham, the birthday party is about to begin, with all of Arthur’s loved ones gathered in Chantal’s memory. The climate of euphoria, however, does not take long to undergo the first cracks in a vortex of conflicting emotions and, tragedy after tragedy, revelation after revelation – in a whirlwind of twists – unconfessed secrets, hidden backstories, unimaginable truths capable of redesigning reality, confirming – once again – that, as often happens, ‘appearances are deceptive’.