The Shelter Series: Dominic Smith

There’s a kind of sheltering in reading. I find myself seeking refuge in the research for my current novel project about abandoned and dwindling towns in Italy. In Lisa St. Aubin de Teran’s A Valley in Italy, I’m transfixed by her family’s renovation of a derelict medieval castle in Umbria, the way they are colonizing the ancient ruin one room and archway at a time, even while Italy, in real time, is ravaged by this pandemic, even while we watch history write itself into our anxieties and grocery deliveries and news feeds. The other night our Seattle neighbors all came out on their porches to bang pots and pans in solidarity and I thought of all those Italians singing the national anthem to each other from their balconies. Here’s to pitched voices and small triumphs while we shelter in place.