Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Italian by Brian Robert Moore

In 1969 in the rural north of Italy, Michelino is 13 and a half years old, spending his summer at his grandfather’s manor house in the country. His grandfather is a retired doctor, and too involved in tv soap operas to be of interest to the curious young Michelino. Rather, the boy’s attention turns to Felice, the gardener who lives in a small cottage close by. Felice is 60, but appears much older, and suffers memory loss.

Initially, to Michelino, Felice appears ‘a monster’ as he butchers the red slugs that eat the lettuce in the vegetable garden. The boy helps the gardener with his memory, and in doing so, uncovers the concealed backstory of Felice’s life, but also that of the house and the village; of a secret room above a hayloft, of buried truths involving Nazi officers, of mysterious previous owners, and Felice’s own enigmatic identity.

One of the appealing things about this fascinating novel from Mari, is that is highly unpredictable, often heading in the direction one would least expect. What appears in the first chapters as a gentle coming of age tale unfurling around a beautiful landscape, becomes anything but that. Mari’s timing of his reveals, and contrast between the grounds of the manor and the horrors of what went on there, make for a gripping read.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5