Not All Bastards Are from Vienna

Italian author Molesini’s award-winning debut novel is set during World War I, amid the bitter fighting between the Germans and Italians in northern Italy in 1917–1918. Inspired by his great-aunt’s wartime journals, Molesini tells of the Spada family’s stoic efforts to survive the German occupation of their villa and their village of Refrontolo, north of Venice. This is a powerful tale of endurance, sacrifice, love, and war’s suffering and cruelty, as the villa is looted, village girls are raped, and the resistance effort becomes increasingly risky. Paolo, 17 years old, lives at the villa with his grandparents, his aunt Maria, and their servants, including the mysterious steward Renato. German soldiers are everywhere after the Italian army is routed. Frightened and starving, Paolo, his family, and Renato devise a coded system for passing information to the Italian soldiers. They rescue a downed British pilot and spy on German generals, but when an aristocratic Austrian major takes possession of the villa, the Spadas’ resistance activities become even more vulnerable to betrayal. This is an excellent war novel, as well as a powerful depiction of a family’s strength and mankind’s justification for war’s barbarity, movingly told and full of vivid imagery. Agent: Marcella Marini, Sellerio Editore. (Feb.)