Overview

An Italian Downton Abbey (1870-1950). This enticing family saga unfolds on the background of Italian history. The rich narrative tapestry includes a castle in the Piedmont countryside near Turin, three women, three generations, and a multitude of minor characters. It brings to the fore individual lives and human predicaments, personal feelings and universal themes. The lives of the three main characters, apparently ordinary, but actually tragic in their inexorable decline, are placed in a coral context that includes: the castle dwellers and the villagers, industrial entrepreneurs and socialist agitators, stars of the silent screen and working girls, American officers in WWI, fascist thugs and victims of the regime, a rogue and an honest prostitute, a singer of the Neapolitan varieté, a Russian prince, a descendant of Sir Walton the pirate, a band of partisans, a liberal priest, and even a domestic leopard. The narrator, who is herself a character, claims an approximate knowledge of facts, which she gathered from personal memories, stories heard from various people, documents and letters, supplemented by the imagination where evidence is lacking. Most of all, it is the photos from the family album that stir her imagination. The use of various languages and dialects very effectively adds sound to the images.

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9781733040815

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An elaborate and far-reaching tale that makes for compelling reading. A family saga that boasts ambitious, sophisticated, and controlled storytelling. --Kirkus Reviews This novel has a strong visual impact. The narrator, inspired by her family album, brings to life through vivid images the shadows that still linger in their country castle. Captivating characters spanning three generations act out their lives against the background of historical turning points. A fascinating reading that reminds me of Downton Abbey! --Willee Lewis, Vice President, PEN/Faulkner Foundation. This novel is a large narrative fresco with visual impact, historical scope and sustained pace, which makes us think of Bertolucci's cinematic epic 1900. It can also be regarded as a kind of Piedmontese counterpart to The Leopard. --Roberto Severino, Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University, Washington DC Anna Lawton has written a beautiful book of place, time, and character. Lawton includes powerful description at no expense to plotting. --NetGalley Review A well written and engrossing novel. I liked the style of writing, the fleshed out cast of characters and the setting. I look forward to reading other books by this author. Highly recommended! --NetGalley Review A castle in the Italian countryside, captivating characters, class/gender/generation conflicts, private lives on the background of historical turning points (Unification of Italy, workers unrest, WWI, Fascism, WWII, partisan struggle). All this in a polished language, not devoid of irony. A contemporary take on the classical family saga, historically accurate and absolutely enjoyable. --Finlay Lewis, Contributing writer, CQ-Roll Call This book brought back sensations that had partly disappeared, and made me forget the particular in favor of a universal world into which everyone can project himself. . . The reference to The Leopard is the first thing that comes to mind because of the analogous situation of an old prominent family experiencing its gradual decline, but also Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann and The Family Moskat by Isaac Singer. -- Riccardo Riccardi, composer, artist and author. Rome, Italy

This novel is a large narrative fresco with visual impact, historical scope and sustained pace, which makes us think of Bertolucci's cinematic epic 1900. It can also be regarded as a kind of Piedmontese counterpart to The Leopard. -- Roberto Severino, Professor Emeritus. Georgetown University. Washington DC The reference to The Leopard is the first thing that comes to mind because of the analogous situation of an old prominent family experiencing its gradual decline, but also Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann and The Family Moskat by Isaac Singer. -- Riccardo Riccardi, composer, artist and author. It's a beautiful story. The language is impeccable, not overly literary (unnatural), and not overly conversational (sloppy) either. It's the perfect language for this story, a saga with its truth filtered through the fabric of narration. It's the work of a novelist, not of a memoirist. -- Camilla Baresani, author of four novels, the latest is Himalayan Pink Salt.

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