Not all Bastards are from Vienna: A Novel - Softcover

Molesini, Andrea

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802126308 ISBN 13: 9780802126306

Publisher: Grove Press, 2017

Synopsis

In this critically acclaimed tour de force—an international bestseller and winner of the prestigious Campiello Prize—Andrea Molesini exquisitely portrays the depths of heroism and horror as a closely knit Italian community is forced to confront war's injustice at the end of World War I.

In the autumn of 1917, Refrontolo—a small town near Venice—is invaded by Austrian soldiers as they advance into Northern Italy. The Spadas own the largest estate in the area, and orphaned seventeen-year-old Paolo lives there with his eccentric grandparents, headstrong aunt, and a loyal staff. When their villa is commandeered by the occupying army to house its senior officers, the family must lodge them or face eviction.

In retaliation, the household becomes a bastion of resistance, both clashing and cooperating with the enemy troops imposing on their property. As Paolo tries to find his footing in the shifting and complex alliances around his, his once proud family succumbs to acts of jealousy and betrayal, love and hate. Then he is recruited to help with a compromising covert operation, and his life is put in irrevocable jeopardy.

With singular insight and extraordinary compassion, Molesini examines the malignancy of war, its destruction of social order and moral values. Not all Bastards Are from Vienna is an unforgettable portrait of the erosion of tradition and the fall of an Italian aristocratic family whose personal battles burn with more fire than those of the war erupting around them.

About this title

About the Author

Andrea Molesini lives in Venice, Italy, where he was born. He is a poet, an author of children’s stories, a sailor, and a professor of comparative literature at Padua University.

Review

Praise for NOT ALL BASTARDS ARE FROM VIENNA

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Wonderfully alive often terribly so as a wartime adventure and story of youth arriving at manhood." New York Times Book Review

"War and Peace meets The Leopard in a novel set among Italian aristocrats during the Great War . . . Rich and moving . . . Molesini has the true novelist's ability to bring scenes and individuals immediately before our eyes, so vividly that they take possession of our imagination . . . This is a very fine novel indeed, a historical novel that speaks to the present as powerfully and clearly as it does of the past." Wall Street Journal

"[A] stunning debut novel . . . Riveting and heartwarming, Molesini balances a nuanced look at the nature of war with the minor triumphs and defeats that mark growing up and falling in love. Molesini's moving and lyrical writing proves that Not All Bastards are From Vienna belongs in the canon of great war fiction." Paste Magazine

"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 (starred review)

"[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 Reviews

"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)

"In Not All Bastards Are from Vienna, characters are streaked by vivid language; with a sure hand, Molesini plumbs the depths of his characters' psychologies." Corriere Della Sera (Italy)

"Wonderful." La Stampa (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)

"Take Hemingway's masterpiece A Farewell to Arms and Erich Maria Remarque's classic All Quiet on the Western Front, and cross these two war depictions with the portrait of Italian aristocracy in Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel The Leopard. . . . [Not All Bastards Are from Vienna] is a powerful and effective blend of Bildungsroman, armchair travel, historical document, and war drama, with touches of a thriller." Kultur (Denmark)

"Full of lessons for the man of today and tomorrow . . . [with] characters of flesh and blood, people with wit and courage . . . Molesini traces with a steady hand this historical map, this atlas of feelings and emotions . . . [it’s 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)

"A beautiful, sensual and visionary novel." Juan Marsé, winner of the Cervantes Prize

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0802126308
• ISBN 13: 9780802126306
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352