Not All Bastards Are from Vienna

Andrea Molesini's exquisite debut novel--winner of the prestigious Campiello Prize--portrays the depths of heroism and horror within a Northern Italian village toward the end of the Great War. While a family's villa is requisitioned by enemy troops, they are forced to intimately confront war's injustice as their involvement with its sinister underpinnings grows more and more complex.

In the autumn of 1917, Refrontolo--a small community north of Venice--is invaded by Austrian soldiers as the Italian army is pushed to the Piave river. The Spada family owns the largest estate in the area, where orphaned seventeen-year-old Paolo lives with his eccentric grandparents, headstrong aunt, and a loyal staff. With the battlefront nearby, the Spada home become a bastion of resistance, both clashing and cooperating with the military members imposing on their household. When Paolo is recruited to help with a covert operation, his life is put in irrevocable jeopardy. As he bears witness to violence and hostility between enemies, he grows to understand the value of courage, dignity, family bonds, and patriotism during wartime.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Grove Press
Published: 02/02/2016
ISBN: 9780802124340
Pages: 352
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.80w x 1.30d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2015
Publishers Weekly 11/23/2015
Booklist 12/15/2015 pg. 35
New York Times Book Review 01/31/2016 pg. 17