Reviews

Winner of the prestigious 2001 Viareggio-Repaci Prize for Fiction, this novel is immensely powerful, lyrical and skillfully narrated. In a tiny Italian community during the summer of 1978, the adults shelter indoors while six children venture out on their bikes across the countryside. In the midst of a sea of golden wheat, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano discovers a secret so terrible that he dare not tell anyone. The reader witnesses a dual story: one that is seen through Michele's eyes, and the tragedy involving the adults of this isolated hamlet.

A great page-turner.