Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure
Sally Brady is a child of the Dust Bowl whose chance adoption by a Hollywood star, Patsy Chen, changes her life but then leaves her rootless. Patsy takes Sally to Italy, but World War II breaks out, and Sally’s stranded. Her first-person narration alternates with close third-person sections that follow Lapo and his son Alessandro, reluctant participants in Mussolini’s war, whose paths intersect with Sally’s as the novel progresses.
The author’s intent to spotlight parallels to current events is evident. The characters discuss the war and its causes in ways that seem too knowing for people in the midst of turmoil, but the dialog is skillfully rendered.
Sally’s story has the bones of a fairy tale, its protagonist an abandoned child bouncing from one adventure to the next. She finds guides and rivals along the way, moves through unexplained abrupt transitions, and improbable, almost magical rescues, sometimes aided by characters who appear only once. Escapes from peril may be too easy, Sally too invulnerable, and the frame stories of her family of origin and foster Hollywood family arranged awkwardly around the other pieces. But if we read her story as a myth for the mid-20th century, they fall perfectly into place.
Sally is an intrepid heroine, and we root for her and for the ordinary Italians caught up in a war they don’t want. “There are, I’d guess, six people who actually want this war,” says Sally.
