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Published Feb 2016
352 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
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.
"Starred Review. 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." - Publishers Weekly
"Combining a comedic touch and vivid characterizations with harrowing depictions of wartime violence, Molesino's first novel was awarded Italy's Campiello Prize." - Booklist
"[An] impressively controlled, gently paced, ultimately piercing debut ... this unusual novel, reflecting the war in microcosm, captures a turning point in the fates of empires." - Kirkus
"In Not All Bastards Are From Vienna, war is a demon that sweeps away everything ... It is one of most successful characters in this compelling and enigmatic work, which leaves the reader deeply satisfied." - L'Unità (Italy)
"Molesini's words are vital and transcend the rhetoric of memory ... Behind this skillful work lies a collective vision, one that speaks for individuals no longer with us." - La Repubblica (Italy)
"With precise language and steeped in an almost photographic realism, [Molesini] describes tragic and painful events with the strength and power of a true writer ... [the] drumming and dynamic prose in the folds of his expressive style is steeped in dignity, altruism and heroism." - Racconto Postmoderno (Italy)
"With formidable talent, Molesini gradually reveals a universe of love and hate, patriotism and everyday heroism." - Le Monde (France)
"A thunderbolt of a debut novel ... a vast fresco, both family chronicle and story of the Great War ... evoked with finesse and erudition." - L'Express (France)
"... a novel of boundless beauty and tenderness, but also the overwhelming sadness and drama of war in Europe during the first half of the twentieth century. A story, too, about almost unsung heroes, those who forged the dream of a continent." - ABC Spain
"Molesini gives all his grace to the story ... [with] great expressive power." - El Pais (Spain)
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