The Last Son’s Secret
This is an international bestseller first published in 2015 and the first of the author’s works to be translated into English, in this case by Mara Faye Lethem. The novel spans the First and Second World Wars, with the main characters being members of the Palmisano and Covertini families who live in the fictional village of Bellorotondo in southern Italy. During the Great War all the male members of the Palmisano family are killed, which leads to the belief in a curse on the family. When the last boy of the family is born, his mother vows to protect her son from the curse whatever the cost. At the same time a girl, Giovanna, is born into the Covertini family. The story moves on to the Second War when the two children and their childhood companions have grown up and become involved, on one side or another, in the struggle between Italy and Germany against the Allied forces and the Italian rebels.
Part political novel and romantic family saga, the book places the personal story against the backdrop of wartime struggle and tragedy and the inevitable consequences of individual choices are played out. The role of the Allies at the end of the Second War is also examined and is both courageous and disastrous.
