The House at the Edge of Night

Starred review from May 30, 2016
Banner, the author of three YA novels, makes her adult debut with a fantastic chronicle of several generations of a family living on a somewhat otherworldly Italian island. Raised by a kindly doctor who takes him from a Florence orphanage, a grown Amedeo Esposito moves to gossipy Castellamare to become the town physician in the early 20th century. He marries the smart, capable Pina Vella, but not before conducting an ill-fated affair with the mayor’s wife, which results in two of Amedeo’s children being born to two different women on the same night. After Amedeo loses his livelihood, he and Pina transform their storied, titular home into a successful bar, which is eventually looked after by their youngest child, Maria-Grazia, during WWII. In her role, she becomes privy to all the townspeople’s secrets, conducts a courtship with wounded British soldier Robert Carr, and, much to her parents’ consternation, finds herself drawn to her half-brother, Andrea. Meanwhile, her sibling Flavio, a former Fascist and her only brother to survive the war, is shunned by the community after rumors destroy his reputation. Banner extends the scope to Maria-Grazia’s two disparate, warring sons, Sergio and Giuseppino, who are willed the bar by Amedeo, and Sergio’s daughter, Lena, who gives up her plans of becoming a doctor to run the business. All the while, Banner constructs a town life with an engaging cast of characters. Her story has a touch of magical realism that filters down from the island’s many legends, collected in a book within the book by Amedeo. Banner deftly touches on weightier themes while weaving an enchanting narrative, the events of which extend to the present. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME Entertainment.

September 1, 2016

In the early 1900s, the citizens of the charmingly rustic Italian island of Castellamare welcome into their simple lives the new doctor, Amedeo Esposito. After a brief, ill-considered affair with Carmela, wife of the powerful il conte, Amedeo settles down with beautiful Pina. When both women deliver their babies on the same day, the parentage rumors fly, trust is shattered, and then is slowly rebuilt as world events creep ever closer to the island's idyllic ways. Amedeo and Pina restore the crumbling House at the Edge of Night and turn it into a cafe where they raise their children while serving their friends and neighbors. The horrors of World War II reach the remote island, pitting the residents against one another, but the devotion of Amedeo, Pina, and their growing family, fortified by wisdom and intense love for Castellamare, serve as guides for all subsequent generations navigating 100 years of upheavals that threaten the stability of island life but are no match for the brilliance and cleverness of its people. VERDICT YA novelist (The Eyes of a King; The Heart at War) Banner has written a debut adult novel so beautifully imagined that readers will want to book a flight and a ferry ride to fictional Castellamare immediately. [See Prepub Alert, 2/1/16.]--Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

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