The Great War could be fought for a second time.
In a different age.
One night, during the first world war, an
Austrian bomber is shot down over the Venice lagoon.
The pilot, Matteo Campini is the sole survivor.
He comes from Trieste, culturally and linguistically Italian, but
part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Having dragged himself from the
wreckage of the plane in a very poor state he is saved by a
fascinating and mysterious girl, Flavia Manin. He very soon
discovers he is a pawn in a dirty game coming from the future, from
Bosnia-Herzegovina torn apart by the civil war of the 90’s. In fact,
a group of Bosnian Serb terrorists is trying to change the course of
history by means of travelling through time.
This discovery leads the pilot to have doubts
about his role as a combatant. He takes up the idea of European
unity and of making Austria-Hungary a democratic country.
Alongside the girl who saved him and with the
help of historical personalities such as Gabriele D’Annunzio,
Campini struggles against the forces of evil. These forces are led
by Hermann Goering who, at the time, is a fighter
pilot in the Red Baron’s squadron. The final, decisive battle
is fought in our time. The outome is also determined thanks to the
resources of Internet. In the end, the real forces behind the scenes
come to light. They are entwined in a network of business and
politics with, as its centre, a Russia in the hands of extreme
nationalists. The political science fiction key is given towards the
end of the novel:
"They tried to exploit the Germans with the
rubbish of the Third Reich and work them like puppets. Their real
interest is to stop the founding of Jugoslavia and to occupy the
whole of Bosnia-Herzagovina".
D’Annunzio’s Bipes is an aeronautical novel
of war and political science fiction. But it is also a tormented
story of love and incomprehension between a free-and -easy modern
girl and a gentleman of la Belle Epoque