Run For Your Life

A 2019 Batchelder Honor Book

2021 Global Literature in Libraries Translated YA Book Prize Shortlist

From one of Italy’s favorite authors of young adult literature comes a gripping, true-to-life thriller of a Sicilian boy’s fight to survive after his family is torn apart by the Mafia.


A talented young runner, Santino lives in Palermo, Sicily―a beautiful region of Italy that’s dominated by the Mafia. With Santino’s first communion approaching, his father and grandfather carry out a theft to pay for the party―but they steal from the wrong people. A young, cocky Mafioso summons them to a meeting, and they bring the boy. As Santino wanders off into the old abandoned neighborhood, he hears shots and runs back to see two armed men and his father and grandfather slumped over in the car. The boy barely escapes with his life. Now, he’s left with a choice: cooperate with police and be a “rat,” or maintain Omertà: the code of silence.

Twelve-year-old Lucio lives in the northern Italian city of Livorno and dreams of sailing when not taking care of his his young sister, Ilaria, and his sick mother, who is convinced that a witch has cursed her. One day, Lucio’s mother goes missing and he receives a mysterious text: “Come to Palermo. Mamma is dying.” Panicked, Lucio grabs Ilaria and rushes to Sicily, where Lucio’s and Santino’s stories converge with explosive results.

Inspired by a real-life Mafia episode, Silvana Gandolfi’s Run for Your Life is a powerful survival story of young people finding the courage to do the right thing when faced with the cruel realities of the adult world.

About the Author:

Silvana Gandolfi has written many acclaimed books for young people and is one of Italy’s most widely translated authors. Her novel for children Aldabra, or The Tortoise Who Loved Shakespeare has also been translated into English by Lynne Sharon Schwartz. Among her numerous awards is the Andersen Prize, Italy’s most important prize for children's literature. She lives in Rome.

About the Translator:

Lynne Sharon Schwartz has published twenty-five books of fiction, nonfiction, essays, poetry and translation. Her reviews and criticism have appeared in many leading magazines and newspapers. She has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Foundation for the Arts, and has taught in writing programs in the United States and abroad. She is presently on the faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars.