ANNOTATION

White's poetry has all the startling, almost embarrassing intimacy of a stranger's love letters. The intense emotional situation envelops the first page, fulfilling the promise shown by his stunning first novel, Elena.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A hauntingly beautiful evocation of lost love, Nocturnes for the King of Naples has all the startling, almost embarrassing, intimacy of a stranger's love letters. The intense emotional situation envelops the readers from the first page; like images in a dream, White's characters are the most real people we know, through they remain phantoms. Each chapter, each nocturne, is set in a different emotional key, but all are interconnected through such subtle modulations that the final effect is devastating.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Nocturnes for the King of Naples is as improbably beautiful as a collaborative effort by Monet, Couperin, and Cellini. It is at the same time an elegy, a 'memento spiriti', and a model of witty elegance. — Coleman Dowell