Winner of the 1998 RAPALLO-CARIGE PRIZE and the PALMI PRIZE
Finalist for the STREGA PRIZE, ITALY
In the hills and countryside of Umbria there is a house outside a village in which live Alcina and Aliseo, sister and brother. She is older, wiser, apparently stronger; he is younger, his head is in the clouds.
It is the last two years of war. The Germans are on the run, the local fascists engaged in a final desperate spree of cruelty and arrogance. Alcina confidently looks after the fields, runs the house and looks after Aliseo. But inside her heart there is fear, fear of loneliness and the terrible fear of death. She knows too much: her mother died giving birth to Aliseo, and her father also died young. Alcina and Aliseo join the partisans in the mountains: this experience will help her to overcome her fears. She will learn that there is space enough in her heart for all those things she previously denied, amongst them perhaps even love.
This is a surprising, beautiful novel of and about feelings, a subtle story, one difficult to forget. Alcina will remain with the reader for a long time, with her mixture of boldness and reserve, her secret fears, her ability to understand others and understand herself. She holds everything together, past and present, daily life and memory.
An Umbrian War, published originally as Alle Case Venie, was translated into English by Sharon Wood.
About the Author
 ROMANA PETRI was born in 1955 in Rome. She graduated in Languages and Literature. Rizzoli published her first collection of short stories, The Blue Prawn, in 1990, whose title story was recently produced on Canadian radio. A writer for the newspaper L’Unita, her three published novels are highly regarded in Italy, Germany, Portugal and France. An Umbrian War, published as Alle Case Venie, was first published in 1997, and has won several literary awards, including the 1998 Rapallo-Carige Prize, the Palmi Prize and was a finalist for the Strega prize.
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The Critics Praise:
An “engaging tale of central Italian partisans and peasants during World War II. A moving story centred on one woman’s internal and external struggles during a time of great upheaval.”
MILWAUKEE.COM
Petri “has fashioned an appealing fable.”
WOMEN’S REVIEW OF BOOKS
An Umbrian War possesses “a style which is hauntingly evocative and poetic, even as the steps towards inevitable catastrophe are painstakingly portrayed. Petri’s characters are strong and clearly delineated, offering a range of ethical, emotional and political responses.”
ITALIA & ITALY
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