-
Pietro's Book
- The Story of a Tuscan Peasant
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's Summary
Pietro Pinti, born as he says "in the Middle Ages", worked the land with hoe and plow from his earliest youth. Growing up under Mussolini's Fascist regime on a farm near Florence, he and his family lived under conditions of extreme poverty, as sharecroppers to generally unscrupulous landowners. But during World War II, when millions in towns and cities suffered untold hardships, the hardy Tuscan peasants were well equipped to face the rigors of the era. War or no war, work on the land went on, and Pietro describes month by month a typical year in their lives: how they made wine and olive oil, planted and harvested the wheat by hand, made baskets and ladders from chestnut wood - skills now lost.
With sly wit and salty wisdom, Pietro, a natural storyteller who played the trumpet, wrote poetry, and grew famous for his tales of peasants, knights, and brigands, recreates in colorful detail a world and peasant culture that is fast disappearing. Jenny Bawtree, an Englishwoman long settled in Tuscany, was so fascinated by Pietro's stories that she helped shape them into this autobiography, full of color and humor, hardship, and nostalgia.
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Pietro's Book
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nancy L Rehfeld
- 10-26-15
horrible narrator
Narrator was aweful. His voice was very difficult to listen to. It distracted from paying attention to the story. Couldn't listen past the first 90 minutes.
Related to this topic
-
The Tuscan Secret
- By: Angela Petch
- Narrated by: Ellie Heydon
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anna is distraught when her beloved mother, Ines, passes away. She inherits a box of papers, handwritten in Italian and yellowed with age, and a tantalizing promise that the truth about what happened during the war lies within. The diaries lead Anna to the small village of Rofelle, where she slowly starts to heal as she explores sun-kissed olive groves, and pieces together her mother’s past: happy days spent herding sheep across Tuscan meadows cruelly interrupted when World War Two erupted and the Nazis arrived....
-
-
Frustratingly naive main character (spoilers)
- By Whitney on 11-04-19
By: Angela Petch
-
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
- Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
- By: William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer
- Narrated by: Chike Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the remarkable story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling adversity. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind will inspire anyone who doubts the power of one individual's ability to change his community and better the lives of those around him.
-
-
Inspirational Story for TED Talk Fans
- By Heather on 08-07-18
By: William Kamkwamba, and others
-
Invisible Jews
- Surviving the Holocaust in Poland
- By: Eddie Bielawski
- Narrated by: Norman Gilligan
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eddie Bielawski was born in the town of Wegrow in Poland in mid-1938. Not a propitious time and place for a Jewish child to be born. As a young child, he sees the Nazi army marching toward Russia. Day and night they marched - soldiers, trucks, tanks, and more soldiers, in a never-ending line - an invincible force. One night, his father had a dream. In this dream, he saw what he had to do: where to build the bunker, how to build it, and even its dimensions. This would be their Noah's Ark, saving them from the initial deluge.
-
-
Surviving not the camps, but being in hiding!
- By Logophile on 04-26-18
By: Eddie Bielawski
-
On Hitler's Mountain
- Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood
- By: Irmgard A. Hunt
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in the beautiful mountains of Berchtesgaden - just steps from Adolf Hitler's alpine retreat - Irmgard Hunt had a seemingly happy, simple childhood. In her powerful, illuminating, and sometimes frightening memoir, Hunt recounts a youth lived under an evil but persuasive leader. As she grew older, the harsh reality of war - and a few brave adults who opposed the Nazi regime - aroused in her skepticism of National Socialist ideology and the Nazi propaganda she was taught to believe in.
-
-
A rare and very much appreciated perspective.
- By tabounds on 12-28-17
By: Irmgard A. Hunt
-
The Winemaker
- By: Noah Gordon
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of The Physician and Shaman now comes this story of a young man - the grapes he grows, the wine he fashions, the women he loves, and his struggle against an evil that seeks to destroy him. Josep Alvarez is a young man in the tiny grape-growing village of Santa Eulália, in Northern Spain, where his father grows black grapes that are turned into cheap vinegar. In Madrid, an assassination plot creates a storm of intrigue that sucks into its vortex a group of innocent young farm workers in Santa Eulália.
-
-
I wish this was a movie or mini series
- By Michele Haines on 02-05-20
By: Noah Gordon
-
The Secret Holocaust Diaries
- The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister
- By: Nonna Bannister, Denise George, Carolyn Tomlin
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gallagher
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For half a century, a terrible secret lay hidden, locked in a trunk in an attic... photos, official documents, and scraps of a diary written by a young girl. "The time has come when I must share my life story... some facts from the past that could make a contribution, however small it may be, to the history of mankind." The Secret Holocaust Diaries is a haunting eyewitness account of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, a remarkable Russian-American woman who saw and survived unspeakable evils as a young girl.
-
-
I respect Nonna
- By Susan on 12-26-11
By: Nonna Bannister, and others
-
The Tuscan Secret
- By: Angela Petch
- Narrated by: Ellie Heydon
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anna is distraught when her beloved mother, Ines, passes away. She inherits a box of papers, handwritten in Italian and yellowed with age, and a tantalizing promise that the truth about what happened during the war lies within. The diaries lead Anna to the small village of Rofelle, where she slowly starts to heal as she explores sun-kissed olive groves, and pieces together her mother’s past: happy days spent herding sheep across Tuscan meadows cruelly interrupted when World War Two erupted and the Nazis arrived....
-
-
Frustratingly naive main character (spoilers)
- By Whitney on 11-04-19
By: Angela Petch
-
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
- Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
- By: William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer
- Narrated by: Chike Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the remarkable story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling adversity. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind will inspire anyone who doubts the power of one individual's ability to change his community and better the lives of those around him.
-
-
Inspirational Story for TED Talk Fans
- By Heather on 08-07-18
By: William Kamkwamba, and others
-
Invisible Jews
- Surviving the Holocaust in Poland
- By: Eddie Bielawski
- Narrated by: Norman Gilligan
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eddie Bielawski was born in the town of Wegrow in Poland in mid-1938. Not a propitious time and place for a Jewish child to be born. As a young child, he sees the Nazi army marching toward Russia. Day and night they marched - soldiers, trucks, tanks, and more soldiers, in a never-ending line - an invincible force. One night, his father had a dream. In this dream, he saw what he had to do: where to build the bunker, how to build it, and even its dimensions. This would be their Noah's Ark, saving them from the initial deluge.
-
-
Surviving not the camps, but being in hiding!
- By Logophile on 04-26-18
By: Eddie Bielawski
-
On Hitler's Mountain
- Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood
- By: Irmgard A. Hunt
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in the beautiful mountains of Berchtesgaden - just steps from Adolf Hitler's alpine retreat - Irmgard Hunt had a seemingly happy, simple childhood. In her powerful, illuminating, and sometimes frightening memoir, Hunt recounts a youth lived under an evil but persuasive leader. As she grew older, the harsh reality of war - and a few brave adults who opposed the Nazi regime - aroused in her skepticism of National Socialist ideology and the Nazi propaganda she was taught to believe in.
-
-
A rare and very much appreciated perspective.
- By tabounds on 12-28-17
By: Irmgard A. Hunt
-
The Winemaker
- By: Noah Gordon
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of The Physician and Shaman now comes this story of a young man - the grapes he grows, the wine he fashions, the women he loves, and his struggle against an evil that seeks to destroy him. Josep Alvarez is a young man in the tiny grape-growing village of Santa Eulália, in Northern Spain, where his father grows black grapes that are turned into cheap vinegar. In Madrid, an assassination plot creates a storm of intrigue that sucks into its vortex a group of innocent young farm workers in Santa Eulália.
-
-
I wish this was a movie or mini series
- By Michele Haines on 02-05-20
By: Noah Gordon
-
The Secret Holocaust Diaries
- The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister
- By: Nonna Bannister, Denise George, Carolyn Tomlin
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gallagher
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For half a century, a terrible secret lay hidden, locked in a trunk in an attic... photos, official documents, and scraps of a diary written by a young girl. "The time has come when I must share my life story... some facts from the past that could make a contribution, however small it may be, to the history of mankind." The Secret Holocaust Diaries is a haunting eyewitness account of Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, a remarkable Russian-American woman who saw and survived unspeakable evils as a young girl.
-
-
I respect Nonna
- By Susan on 12-26-11
By: Nonna Bannister, and others
-
All for Nothing
- By: Walter Kempowski, Anthea Bell - translator, Jenny Erpenbeck - introduction
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In East Prussia, January 1945, the German forces are in retreat, and the Red Army is approaching. The von Globig family's manor house, the Georgenhof, is falling into disrepair. Auntie runs the estate as best she can since Eberhard von Globig, a special officer in the German army, went to war, leaving behind his beautiful but vague wife, Katharina, and her bookish 12-year-old son, Peter. As the road fills with Germans fleeing the occupied territories, the Georgenhof begins to receive strange visitors - a Nazi violinist, a dissident painter, a Baltic baron, even a Jewish refugee.
-
-
All for Nothing
- By Lynn on 03-16-19
By: Walter Kempowski, and others
-
A Fortunate Life
- By: A. B. Facey
- Narrated by: Roger Cardwell
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in 1894, Facey lived the rough frontier life of a sheep farmer, survived the gore of Gallipoli, raised a family through the Depression and spent 60 years with his beloved wife, Evelyn. Despite enduring hardships we can barely imagine today, Facey always saw his life as a "fortunate" one. A true classic of Australian literature, his simply written autobiography is an inspiration. It is the story of a life lived to the full - the extraordinary journey of an ordinary man.
-
-
Life, lived thoughtfully and energetically in 20th century Australia
- By Mary on 02-01-23
By: A. B. Facey
-
Unlikely Warrior
- A Jewish Soldier in Hitler's Army
- By: Georg Rauch
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a young adult in wartime Vienna, Georg Rauch helped his mother hide dozens of Jews from the Nazis behind false walls in their top-floor apartment and arrange for their safe transport out of the country. His family was among the few who worked underground to resist Nazi rule. Then came the day he was shipped out to fight on the eastern front as part of the German infantry--in spite of his having confessed his own Jewish ancestry.
-
-
This is a good one!
- By creosote on 02-25-23
By: Georg Rauch
-
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Young Readers Edition
- By: William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family's life forever: he could build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William's windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family pump the water they needed to farm the land.
-
-
kids loved it
- By Summer on 08-21-17
By: William Kamkwamba, and others
-
A Russian Journal
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Steinbeck and Capa's account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing.Just after the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune.
-
-
Extremely Interesting
- By Jean on 12-04-14
By: John Steinbeck
-
Nathan Coulter
- By: Wendell Berry
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 4 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This, the first title in the Port William series, introduces the rural section of Kentucky with which novelist Wendell Berry has had a lifelong fascination. When young Nathan loses his grandfather, Berry guides listeners through the process of Nathan's grief, endearing the listener to the simple humanity through which Nathan views the world.
-
-
Beautifully written, well read
- By Jenna Moon on 08-16-10
By: Wendell Berry
-
The Buddha in the Attic
- By: Julie Otsuka
- Narrated by: Samantha Quan, Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In eight incantatory sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the extraordinary lives of young Japanese brides, from their arduous journey by boat, where they exchange photographs of their husbands, imagining uncertain futures in an unknown land; to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; to their backbreaking work picking fruit in the fields and scrubbing the floors of white women; to their struggles to master a new language and a new culture; to their experiences in childbirth, and then as mothers....
-
-
Fascinating topic, irritating writing style
- By Lydia on 08-26-11
By: Julie Otsuka
-
My Real Name Is Hanna
- By: Tara Lynn Masih
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hanna Slivka is on the cusp of 14 when Hitler's army crosses the border into Soviet-occupied Ukraine. Soon, the Gestapo closes in, determined to make the shtetele she lives in "free of Jews". Until the German occupation, Hanna spent her time exploring Kwasova with her younger siblings, admiring the drawings of the handsome Leon Stadnick, and helping her neighbor dye decorative eggs. But now she, Leon, and their families are forced to flee and hide in the forest outside their shtetele - and then in the dark caves beneath the rolling meadows, rumored to harbor evil spirits.
-
-
I chose this because I love the narrator
- By LaRae M Foehrenbacher on 05-27-21
By: Tara Lynn Masih
-
A Thousand Shall Fall
- The Electrifying Story of a Soldier and His Family Who Dared to Practice Their Faith in Hitler's Germany
- By: Susi Hasel Mundy
- Narrated by: Lauren Mazzio, Nicholas Mazzio
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pacifist Franz Hasel was drafted into one of Hitler’s elite troops to build bridges at the front lines. Just before he was sent deep into Russia - where all but seven of his 1,200 man unit would die - he secretly discarded his gun, fearing that, as the company sharpshooter, he might be tempted to kill. In Russia he faced a new problem: how to warn the local Jews before the SS got to them.
-
-
So inspirational
- By Jenny on 03-15-23
By: Susi Hasel Mundy
-
Blackbird House
- By: Alice Hoffman
- Narrated by: John Lee, Xe Sands, Amy Rubinate, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet. These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives.
-
-
short stories
- By Kristina on 08-10-17
By: Alice Hoffman
-
Coming up for Air
- By: George Orwell
- Narrated by: Richard Brown
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Bowling, an insurance salesman, hits middle age and feels impelled to “come up for air” from his life of quiet desperation. With seventeen pounds he has won at a race, he steals a vacation from his wife and family and pays a visit to Lower Binfield, the village where he grew up, to fish for carp in a pool he remembers from thirty years before. But the pool is gone, Lower Binfield has changed beyond recognition, and the principal event of Bowling’s holiday is an accidental bombing by the RAF.
-
-
Orwell Flirts and Fishes w/ Nostalgia & Modernity.
- By Darwin8u on 07-10-12
By: George Orwell
-
World Made by Hand
- The World Made by Hand Novels, Book 1
- By: James Howard Kunstler
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The electricity has flickered out. The automobile age is over. In Union Grove, a little town in upstate New York, the future is nothing like people thought it would be. Life is hard and close to the bone. Transportation is slow and dangerous, so food is grown locally at great expense of time and energy, and the outside world is largely unknown. There may be a president, and he may be in Minneapolis now, but people aren’t sure.
-
-
Male fantasy makes for a poor/unrealistic story
- By Clara on 05-22-13