Solitaria
When Vito Santoro’s body is inadvertently unearthed by a demolition crew in Fregene, Italy, his siblings are thrown into turmoil,
having been told by their sister Piera that Vito had fled to Argentina fifty years earlier after abandoning his wife and son. Piera,
the self-proclaimed matriarch, locks herself in her room, refusing to speak to anyone but her Canadian nephew, David. Now scattered
over three continents, the family members regroup in Italy to try to discover the truth. Read more . . .
"[Solitaria] is a story with many masks or stories within stories but it is told so fluidly you hardly notice the complexity of the
writing. It is part murder mystery, part romance, part historical account, and part family saga. It is quite simply, literature at
its finest and a story like no other. The fact that it is set primarily in Southern Italy, with a brief early stop in Vancouver, Canada,
imbues it with an earthy, lusty, almost ancient tone that lingers long after you close the book." Read more . . .
They navigate through thick traffic, from Rome, for an hour and a half, in stifling heat, among stalled cars and angry drivers. Finally,
the Fregene exit leads them off the freeway, and onto Viale di Pineta through the ancient pinery, down to Lungomare di Levante, where
they turn left at the seashore, and continue until they stop in front of iron gates, chained and padlocked. Visible through the bars,
a dilapidated villa rises among pines and wild hibiscus whose magenta petals shimmer in the July heat. Yellow police tape girdles
the entire area. Read more . . .
Genni Gunn