Mad Dogs and Englishmen is short confection of a tale about Timothy Green, a young Englishman in Italy as an aid to the British Ambassador and Cosimo, a young Italian painter. Pazzia, a pugnacious little white bulldog with a piratical eye-patch of color also plays a very prominent roll as matchmaker.

Roman paints scenes of shimmery summer heat and lazy Italian afternoons wiling away siesta time in bed. Mad Dogs and Englishmen is a little too brief. Timothy and Cosimo can barely communicate with each other. Timothy knows only enough Italian to let someone know he can’t speak Italian. While broken sentences of half-English, half-Italian intersperse Cosimo’s speech. Much of their communication is physical. They have a strong attraction to each other. The scenes near the secluded fountain are almost lyrical.

Still their declarations of love are hard to encompass on such short acquaintance, spent mainly in the mad throws of passion. This maybe the opening chapter of a new novel. If so, it’s a nice tease and worth 3 stars.

Stars: [rating=3]

Review originally appeared on Blackraven’s Reviews
Publisher: Torquere Press
Image courtesy of Torquere Press