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Sparrow's Revenge: A Novel of Postwar Tuscany by Paul Salsini iUniverse
book review by Allison Whittenberg
"Long live the insurrectionary general strike! Long live the national insurrections. Chase out of Italy thee hated German! Let the base Fascist and the profiteering plutocrats die the death of traitors!"
Reporter, professor, and award-winning author Paul Salsini tells an intriguing historical story of life during and after wartime. Sparrow's Revenge, the sequel to the well received novel The Cielo: A Novel of Wartime Tuscany, again features a Resistance fighter (codename Sparrow) as he hunts a Nazi collaborator.
Set in postwar 1950s, the protagonist is doggedly determined to bring a war criminal to justice. During the war, over five hundred civilians were slaughtered in the village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema. The figure responsible for this atrocity is a grotesque figure, a one-eyed man. The theme of blindness (blind allegiance to a political movement and the blind thirst for vengeance) weaves through this fast-paced book. The question of just punishment also looms. And Salsini takes one more interesting step: By flushing the images of protagonist and antagonist to the margins, they effectively become archetypes of good and evil and thereby challenge our perceptions of both. In terms of the story, this helps humanize our characters and inspire healing and forgiveness.
There are many revenge books that deal with the evils of WWII. The narrative is especially sharp "partisans meant Communists; no matter that matter were Army deserters, Socialist, Catholics… The honor of Italy meant killing Communists and anyone who was helping the Communists." One aspect that sets this novel apart is the lush scenery of Italy. In addition to good dialogue, Salsini is a wonderful storyteller with flashes of deep understanding of the human psychology and modern history.