Across the River and into the Trees

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Across the River and into the Trees (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

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Richard Cantwell, a colonel in the U.S. Army Infantry who is dying of heart failure after fighting in World War II. A battered and much-decorated fifty-one-year-old professional soldier with cold steel eyes and wild boar blood, he returns to Venice, Italy, the city he loves most, to hunt ducks before he dies. In addition to a breaking heart, he has an injured leg, a crippled right hand that still cracks open, a broken nose, head wounds, and scars on his face. He defended Venice as a lieutenant in the Italian army and has many friends. Most recently, he...

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