along with Marcello Barison, Harper Schmidt Fellow at the University of Chicago and Mark Rotella, Publishers Weekly.
Andrea Molesini and Friends a conversation among Andrea Molesini, the author of Not All Bastards Are from Vienna, (Grove Press, 2016), Marcello Barison, Harper Schmidt Fellow at the University of Chicago and Mark Rotella, Publishers Weekly. Thursday, May 12th 7-9pm Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago – 500 N Michigan Ave, Suite 1450
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. “War and Peace meets The Leopard in a novel set among Italian aristocrats during the Great War … A remarkable story … a historical novel that speaks to the present as powerfully and clearly as it does of the past.”– Wall Street Journal Copies of the book, “Not All Bastards Are From Vienna” will be available for sale. Presented in collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency, Book Publishing Section. While in Chicago, Andrea Molesini will appear at the Book Expo America on May 12th at 2pm, Booth #1205 for signing copies of his book in English and Italian. For more information, please click here.