Title: Sparrow's Revenge: A Novel of Postwar Tuscany -- by Pul Salsini

Set in rural Tuscany in the 1950s, Sparrow's Revenge explores the aftermath of the horrific massacre of 560 Italian civilians in the village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema. The story follows Ezio Maffini, a former partisan turned schoolteacher who has never forgiven himself for failing to prevent the deaths of his loved ones in Sant'Anna. When Ezio learns that the one-eyed Fascist widely believed to be a Nazi collaborator responsible for the atrocity has been spotted in the Tuscan hills, he poses as a reporter in hopes of tracking him down and taking revenge. 

This is not a feel-good book with a dualistic view of good and evil. Sparrow's Revenge is a compelling, well-researched, realistic look at the dangers of turning those who have wronged us into caricatures of absolute evil, and of being blinded (literally and figuratively) by personal heroes we believe are absolutely good. While Salsini wrote Sparrow's Revenge as a sequel to his first novel, The Cielo , it stands well on its own. (I haven't read The Cielo yet, but I certainly intend to now!) It's easy to see why Salsini's writing has won so many awards-- his first novel won First Place for Fiction from the Council of Wisconsin Writers and First Place for Fiction from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. His characters are believable, he pays precise attention to historical and geographic detail, and his pacing and word choice are impeccable. I enthusiastically recommend Sparrow's Revenge to anyone with the slightest interest in history, Italy, or human nature-- in short, to everyone.