I have been following the travails of Ferruccio Francesco Frisone, the father of Giovanni Frisone, who is in turn the husband of Deborah Smith Frisone, former Shipman & Goodwin partner. Ferruccio (or "Ruccio" as I have come to think of him!) was interred in a German prisoner of war camp (a "Lager") during World War II. He made exquisite drawings and actually managed to keep a diary of his experiences on little scraps of paper. Giovanni and Deborah have intermingled excerpts from the diary with the drawings and have added narrative where necessary to explain historical context and to make it flow. They have done a great job, and it is very moving to read. But "Ruccio" can also be very funny, as in this description of the lice that plague him and the other prisoners:
"During the night I am attacked by new forces: the recruits, the rookies, that go after me in places strategically worn out by previous, even stronger onslaughts; I am irritated and I counterattack any way I can but their force of penetration, given their microscopic size, makes it difficult for me to hold them in check. In the rear guard position, I find the ‘big ones’ you could call them the sedentaries, the fat ones; their size and their lack of speed and agility make for a fair fight, but I have noticed that these old guys are very clever. Their ability to camouflage is a gift of nature. "
It makes me itch just to read it !!
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