A Kiss from Maddalena - Softcover

Christopher Castellani

3.73

922 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752864130 ISBN 13: 9780752864136

Publisher: Orion Paperbacks, 2005

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It is 1943 and Santa Cecilia has become a village of women. All the young men are away at war, and for Vito Leone, time is short. A few months shy of the draft, he has begun to woo the beautiful Maddalena Piccinelli, the daughter of the town's most powerful family. No matter that her parents dismiss him as a mammoni, a mama's boy, or that her older sister has publicly called him a fool. But Maddalena sees the romantic side of Vito, his humour and his tenderness. As the war intensifies, so do her feelings towards her unlikely suitor. When the Italians unexpectedly surrender to the Allies, the retreating German soldiers invade Santa Cecilia, forcing everyone to flee, except Vito and his mother. While the village is being shelled and looted, Vito, with ingenuity and boundless devotion, comes up with the perfect plan to prove that he is a suitor worthy of Maddalena. When the Piccinellis finally return home to Santa Cecilia, they find some marvellous changes have taken place in both Vito and the village...

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Review:

In Santa Cecilia, Italy, in the spring of 1943, the war is closing in. Vito Leone, a scrawny, clownish boy, not quite 18, is still at home, while his slightly older contemporaries have already gone off to fight. He is filling the days until he leaves by courting the town beauty, 15-year-old Maddalena Piccinelli, daughter of the region's most successful merchant. The title of Christopher Castellani's debut novel, A Kiss from Maddalena, is only part of Vito's plan.

The road through Santa Cecilia is "one of the widest in Italy." When Italy joins the Allies, it becomes a conduit for German invasion, causing the Santa Ceciliese to leave for more remote places. Vito stays to care for his chronically ill mother. He and Maddalena share a poignant parting, amid tears and promises. During their two-year separation, they continue to believe that they will be reunited, with her family's approval. Vito sets out to ingratiate himself to the Piccinellis in their absence by refurbishing their house, which has been ravaged by soldiers. When they return, Maddalena's mother, Chiara, says, "I am grateful ... but it's too much ... I don't like when people do things for me; I don't like the obligation. I don't trust anyone anymore." She does find it in her heart to trust one man with her daughter, however, and it isn't Vito.

Castellani's debut carries echoes of other love and war stories, such as Chocolat, Birdsong, and Corelli's Mandolin. It is a tribute to his Italian-American roots, capturing time, place and circumstance in broad strokes, but also rendering the subtleties of hope and expectation, longing and despair. --Valerie Ryan

About the Author:

Christopher Castellani was born in Delaware to immigrant Italian parents. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts. This is his first novel.

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