Record Number |
21905 |
ISBN |
9781761067273 |
Item Number |
21473260 |
Location |
F SMI |
Author |
Smith, Dominic, 1971-, (author). |
Title |
Return to Valetto / Dominic Smith. |
Published |
Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2023. (28/01/23) |
Cammeraygal Country ; Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2023. |
©2023. |
Collation |
358 pages ; 24 cm. |
Content types |
text |
Carrier type |
volume |
Bibliography Note |
Includes bibliographical references. |
Summary Note |
A nearly abandoned Italian village, the family that stayed, and long-buried secrets from World War II. On a hilltop in Umbria sits Valetto. Once a thriving village-and a hub of resistance and refuge during World War II-centuries of earthquakes, landslides and the lure of a better life have left it neglected. Only ten residents remain, including the widows Serafino - three eccentric sisters and their steely centenarian mother - who live quietly in their medieval villa. Then their nephew and grandson, Hugh, a historian, returns. But someone else has arrived before him, laying claim to the cottage where Hugh spent his childhood summers. The unwelcome guest is the captivating and no-nonsense Elisa Tomassi, who asserts that the family patriarch, Aldo Serafino, a resistance fighter whom her own family harboured, gave the cottage to them in gratitude. Like so many threads of history, this revelation unravels a secret - a betrayal, a disappearance and an unspeakable act of violence - that has impacted Valetto across generations. Who will answer for the crimes of the past? |
Target Audience |
Recommended by the Retired Teachers Association of the NSW Teachers Federation. |
Subject |
Australian fiction |
Families |
Family secrets |
Secrecy |
Secrecy -- Fiction |
Families -- Fiction |
Family secrets -- Fiction |
World War, 1939-1945 -- Fiction |
Geographic Name |
Italy -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction |