A Winter's Night

Starred review from September 1, 2012
Death is the only thing there is no remedy for. So declares one of the sons of the Bruni family, the long-suffering Italian farm family at the center of this compellingly human novel. Though he focuses on the Brunis, Manfredi peoples his expansive narrative with a diverse cast of fugitives struggling to find remedies for their perplexities in a twentieth-century Europe repeatedly torn by conflict and chaos. In the decade after WWI, scores of desperate refugees find temporary shelter in the capacious Bruni barndubbed the Hotel Bruniwhere they find warmth and sustenance, and an audience for their gripping stories of adversity and survival. The knife grinder haunted by his dead wife and child; the half-deaf day laborer with an uncanny gift for spinning tales; the crazy widow rumored to have escaped from an asylumsuch are the unforgettable guests in this unusual hotel. Presiding over this beleaguered band, the matriarch of the Bruni clan tends the communal fire, ladles out soup to famished fugitives, and renews failing hopesuntil Fascist thugs threaten violence beyond remedy. Much perishes in the tautly chronicled denouement, but Manfredi's impressive fictional artseamlessly translated from the Italian originalpowerfully reminds readers of how the human spirit endures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)