Italy in World War II – from Sicily and the Mafia to Rome and the Vatican –
The compelling story of a boy growing up between two homelands, his adventures as a young soldier, his Sicilian family, and their incredible journey through war-torn Italy.
Enzo is the child of an Italian family who emigrated to Switzerland. He spends his childhood summers in Sicily, where he absorbs the local way of life and learns to love the Italian sense of family. In 1942, he is forced to interrupt his studies in Germany when he is called up to join the war effort in Italy. He serves as an interpreter in Rome and on the island of Lampedusa. His cousins are drawn into the war as well — one as a fighter pilot, another as a priest in the Vatican helping refugees, and a third as a partisan. One of them acts as a mediator between the Mafia and the American intelligence service. Enzo witnesses the invasion of Sicily by the American and British troops and decides to take his fate into his own hands — a dangerous escape that leads him from southern Italy across the Alps.
With powerful, atmospheric imagery, this novel portrays life in Sicily before the Second World War, before Enzo and his cousins — like so many of their generation — are swept up in a terrible conflict that transcends national borders yet never robs them of their hope for peace and freedom.
The Interpreter is based on true events. Isabella Pallavicini tells the story of her father’s wartime experiences through fictional characters, places, and events.
The Interpreter was published by Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd and is available from all major online and wholesale booksellers.
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