Description
Book SynopsisSet during the first half of the twentieth century, this is the story of the Brunis, a family of farmers from the Italian Padan Plain who have worked the land since time immemorial. And it is a story about the homeless multitudes, travelers and tinkers, roaming Europe during the hardscrabble nineteen-twenties and thirties. In this expansive novel, these two worlds meet when the Brunis open their doors and their hearts, offering refuge for those in need of a warm, dry, and safe place to sleep and eat.
The Brunis' barn becomes font and inspiration for a series of vivid stories involving sundry strangers, the Bruni parents themselves, and their nine childrenseven boys and two girlswho will grow into young men and women during World War I and its aftermath. Told in the tradition of country folktales and framed by the devastating years of strifetwo world wars and the years of fascismthis story will delight readers from the first page to the last.
Manfredi's A Winter's Night provides a timely reminder that simple values and a sense of solidarity with our fellow human beings remain of vital importance, above all in a world undergoing momentous and rapid change.
