Justin Stares

The Moon at the Bottom of the Well Justin Stares

To 'want the moon at the bottom of the well' is an Italian expression to describe reaching for the impossible. Reflected in the well water, the moon seems frustratingly close. Ennio Iacobucci, an illiterate boy from Italy's Abruzzo mountains, uses these words when Derek Wilson, a British reporter, asks him to consider becoming a photographer. Such a transformation is at first unimaginable. Abandoned by both parents, Ennio's spends his childhood as a slave in a monastery, forced to wash dishes and feed pigs to earn his keep. Later, in Rome, his self-esteem is so low and his desperation so great that despite his lust for women he sees no alternative but to prostitute himself. Thanks to Derek's coaching, Ennio's self-confidence soars. Their unlikely partnership takes them to Brussels, London, Paris, Israel and eventually Saigon at the height of the Vietnam War. Within a few short years, Ennio is a Pulitzer prize-nominated photo-reporter. But when the US military withdrawal begins, the fairytale starts to unravel. A true story based on unpublished, firsthand accounts.