Where All-Convincing Love Assails

By Witte Piet

After two introductory chapters in which some of the new characters appear, the book continues the story of Luke Singleton-Scarborough, Tom Appleton his partner, and their family. Tom and Luke are civil partners, but they have a live-in girlfriend, Olivia, who is the mother of their three adopted children. Most of the story takes place in Italy but there are regular visits to England and Wales. Tom's and Luke's eldest son, Giovanni shows signs of being a talented singer, having been in a children's choir that came second in an event at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, and his half-brother Bernardo is an eight-year-old anglophile.

We also hear how Luke's biological brother Sandro Overton-Mascagnoli and Dom Overton, Earl of Batley, his spouse, move to new jobs in Italy, Dom now having a role in banking security and Sandro now works for FS, the Italian State Railways. We read how Luke's adoptive brother Tommy after a fairly unhappy time teaching in British schools (because he is gay) also gets a new job as an English teacher of adults in Parma, Italy. In Parma, he is joined for short periods in the summer by his partner Martin, a junior fellow of Sanguis Christi College in Camford, England and their mutual girlfriend Eleanor, a research student in Camford.

Most of the story is about the new character, Newcastle-born opera singer John Pitsmoor, winner of the Llandewi Mawr International Singing Festival. John is spending a year to improve his Italian by singing in the chorus at Luke's opera house in Trabizona, and he falls in love with Matteo Leotantini, friend of Luke's brother Tommy and now a research student in Tom's chemical laboratory in Trabizona University. Their relationship is not without its problems. Matteo has not disclosed his gayness to his family and John has a spell of unfaithfulness with a gay visiting tenor. Prominent in each book in the series is the gay chairman of Tom's department, Professore Arturo Sescantanti, who holds twice yearly parties at which academic chemists and the gay population of the city meet and mingle. The répétiteuse at Luke's opera house gets married to one of Matteo's laboratory colleagues and Matteo is invited to be the best man at their wedding in Deventer, the Netherlands. By the end of the book John has returned to a job with the opera house in Bristol, England and Matteo has finished his doctoral study, has written his thesis and obtained the degree of Dottore di Ricerca. Thanks to Tom's contacts in Camford he has got a postdoctoral position in England. Even then, it seems likely that the relationship will be subjected to severe strain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Witte Piet
• Release date: Sep 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005828899

Witte Piet

The author started writing gay romances after he had retired from a long career as an academic scientist. It is a widespread illusion that authors of erotica are practised experts in the art of venery. In fact, this is in most cases quite untrue, they are more generally working out their erotic fantasies in fiction, as is the case with Witte Piet. The author's aim is to write pleasant and enjoyable stories about love between men, not leaving the sex behind at the bedroom door, but entering into plenty of explicit detail, with some crude language. One of the author's mottoes is a quotation from Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, "Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery,” so there is for example no poverty among the lead characters. The fields are all "highbrow", involving student life in one of England's ancient universities, and areas of science, religion, music, literature (especially seventeenth-century poetry) and life in the English countryside and in Italy.

Book preview

This book continues the story of Luke Singleton-Scarborough, Tom Appleton his partner, and their family. We also hear how Luke's biological brother Sandro and Dom, his spouse, move to new jobs in Italy, and how Luke's adoptive brother Tommy also gets a job in Italy. In addition it introduces a new character, John Pitsmoor and his relationship with Matteo Leotantini, friend of Luke's brother Tommy and now a research student in Tom's laboratory in Trabizona.

Most places and organizations mentioned are real, but a few are not. Italian place-names may be spelt in either the Italian or English fashion. Because the stories of several different groups are covered in the story, there are several switches of scene. A few isolated chapters have been previously published on Literotica.com. In real time, it took place before the disastrous and foolish decision of a slim majority of the British public voting to leave the European Union. The number and frequency of flights between British provincial airports and those on the European mainland are grossly exaggerated and bear no relation to reality.

I have found this book particularly difficult to write, because (possibly as a result of getting older) I find it harder to write about sexual activity without sounding boring. Since that is the topic that most people want to read about, this may end up being the final novel in this series. The book is in two parts, the first book narrated in the third person, the second by Matteo. In case you need to recall the identity of people in the story, a list of their names and identities appears in the Appendix at the end of the book.

Note: Girolamo Mazzona Bedoli (c.1500-1569) (Chapter XXV) was a sixteenth-century Parmesan painter. His paintings can be seen in galleries all over the world. In Britain, these include the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh and Castle Howard, North Yorkshire.

Previous Books by the same author

This book is volume 10 of a roman fleuve, and the series is best read in the order below. Later editions of the books will show the volume number on the title-page.

1. Surpassing the Love of Women

2. My Beloved is Mine, and I am His

3. Hug you Close and Keep you Warm

4. His Mouth is most Sweet

5. You must no Longer lie Alone

6. Come, let us in Affections Riot

7. If I with You all Night could Be

8. We Two Boys together Clinging

9. A Woman and Two Men

BOOK ONE: AN ENGLISH SINGER IN ITALY (Un’ Cantore Inglese in Italia)

Chapter I. The Llandewi Mawr International Singing Competition

Sir David Singleton-Scarborough, opera singer, singing teacher and honorary Fellow of Saint Boniface's College, Camford, declined an invitation to join his fellow judges for dinner and went to eat with his son, Luke, at a pub near the competition venue in Llandewi Mawr. They had been attending the Llandewi Mawr International Singing Competition, held every five years in the small mid-Wales market town. David himself had won both the tenor class and the overall festival champion title back in the 1980s, and this had been the jumping-off point that really started his career as a professional singer. Since then, he had several times been one of the festival judges.

Luke had for the first time in his life taken a short break from his job as General Manager of the Teatro Musicale in the Italian city of Trabizona, and come to Britain in search of new singing talent. He had in the past employed British artists as principals, but only when they had acquired an international reputation. His opera house, always strapped for cash, had recently decided to seek for new, younger and possibly cheaper, talent rather than relying on expensive international artists. His gay partner, Tom Appleton, had been unable to come with him as he was at a tricky stage in an application for a Professorship in Chemistry at Trabizona University.

Already after only a week in England and Wales, Luke was beginning to miss Tom, Olivia and their three children. He was conscious that Tom was being kept busy by the sexual needs of Olivia, the mother of their children. He knew that this would be the case, because whenever Tom, who visited England several times a year in connection with his research, was away, Olivia expected Luke to sleep with her every night, leaving the bed he shared with Tom empty.

Luke had met his father to discuss the winner of the tenor class in the competition, an amazing tenor called John Pitsmoor. The panel of judges, who included critics and impresarios as well as teachers, singers and conductors, had been unanimous in their choice of winner. David was rather relieved that everyone agreed that young Pitsmoor was a brilliant singer, because he was a man of extraordinary beauty, with a slim, tall figure and natural blond hair, a trim arse and an intriguing bulge in the front of his trousers: the kind of man indeed that gave David (or indeed any gay man) a stiffening of his cock every time he looked at him. He felt that it would have been very unprofessional of himself to let sexual attraction influence his judgement. However, the topic naturally arose in the conversation with his son, who also confessed to a hard-on at the sight of the young tenor!

David suggested that Luke make John Pitsmoor the offer of a one-year chorus job in the Teatro Musicale after he had finished his training at the National Opera Studio. In that year he could perfect his Italian and move into principal roles. Check whether he has an agent, though, because you need to convince the agent that you recognize John's talent, and that he would benefit from a less demanding job for a year to polish his Italian skills. And, don't, whatever you do, give any indication that you find him attractive. We must keep sex out of his career development!

Next morning, Luke made contact with John Pitsmoor and asked him if he had an agent. It turned out that he had, and Luke got a copy of his business card. I can tell you what the deal is that I am going to offer your agent, he said. I'm offering you a salaried place in our chorus at my Teatro Musicale in Trabizona in Italy for one year. We do about a dozen operas in repertory every year. You would get the chance to sing a solo role, not necessarily a principal one, at least three times in the year, for which you would be paid extra. Also, I would expect you to understudy other principal roles, which would increase your repertoire. One year in Italy will work wonders for your spoken Italian.

Luke telephoned John's agent and a deal was negotiated. At the man's insistence, Luke threw in six free lessons with his father, to be arranged at a mutually available time, either in Camford or in Italy. He also had to concede that if a one-off recital or very short stage job cropped up in Britain, he would give John short-term leave of absence. The young tenor, who was about 25, was very excited at the idea of a year singing in Italy, particularly in the more relaxed role of chorus member. He was unattached, a closet gay who had very romantic ideas about Italy, where he hoped he might find a partner. He was realistic enough to realize that the role of a young chorus member would only just pay enough to live on, even with extra pay for his solo roles, but he reckoned that the experience would be worth it, and who knew? Maybe there might be some earnings on the side.

Next day, being Sunday, David and his son attended church in Llandewi Mawr before setting off on the drive back to Camford. Both Luke and his father were untypical of twenty-first century men in being almost obsessively faithful Christian believers. I love Llandewi Mawr, said Luke. It's where my darling Tom proposed to me when you were a judge on a previous occasion. We were lying under a rock after our first ever outdoor sex. The poor lad had felt that he couldn't ask me to be his until he had money of his own, and Pop's mother had just made him a present of a large sum!

They stopped off for lunch in a pub in Leominster on the way back and got home to David and Jonathan's house in Octavia Avenue about 6 pm, where Jon, David's partner and Luke's other father, had dinner ready for them. Caterina Fabioli, their tenant, only cooked for them once a week now, as she was getting old, and Jon and David had a non-resident housekeeper, who came in daily to clean and to cook when required. Caterina shared the men's evening meal when Jon or the housekeeper cooked it.

Chapter II. A Visit to the Llangollen International Eisteddfod

Ten-year-old Giovanni Desperaldi was excited. He was going abroad on a trip with his choir. A year earlier, he had decided that the scope of Trabizona Cathedral choir was too limited for his ambitions, and had passed the audition to join the Trabizona Children’s Choir, a group of under 16-year-olds which had a much wider repertoire than just church music. The two choirs took up much of his spare time, keeping him away from computer games and other digital teenage obsessions. He was an interesting and complex child: one moment he was a sweet innocent ten-year-old, the next he was a self-confident and knowledgeable pre-teen. As one of his official guardians, Luke encouraged him in his love of singing, as did Luke’s adoptive father, David, who, as we know, was a professional singer. In the Children’s Choir, Giovanni made several more friends than the limited circle of the cathedral choir had afforded him.

The Children’s Choir was run by a well-organized group of parents and adults who supervised their activities quite closely. They regarded the choir’s coming visit to the International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales as a wonderful opportunity for the kids to perform before a much wider audience than they could expect in Trabizona, their home in Northern Italy. Unfortunately there was an initial obstacle when it was found that the cheapest way to travel to Britain — by long-distance coach — would involve two nights hotel or hostel stay on both outward and return journeys and would tire the children out before they reached their destination. Fortunately, the higher cost of air travel was met by an unknown donor, who contributed several thousand euros for return flights for the 25 children and their accompanying adults from Valerio-Catullo-Villafranca airport to and from Manchester.

To keep costs down, only five adults accompanied the children on the trip, and for Giovanni this would be his first trip abroad without being accompanied by