An enthralling dual-timeline WWII family mystery, based on the heartbreaking true story of the massacre in a small town in Italy in July of 1945, from award-winning, bestselling novelist Sandro Martini.
“A gripping saga that roots excruciating betrayals in a nation’s tragic history.” –Kirkus Reviews
In the winter of 1942, an Italian army of young men vanishes in the icefields of the Eastern Front. In the summer of 1945, a massacre in Schio, northeastern Italy, where families grieve the dead, makes international headlines.
In present-day Veneto, an ordinary man is about to stumble onto a horrifying secret.
Alex Lago is a jaded journalist whose career is fading as fast as his marriage. When he discovers an aged World War II photo in his dying father’s home, and innocently posts it to a Facebook group, he gets an urgent message: Take it down. NOW.
Alex finds himself digging into a past that needs to stay hidden. What he's about to uncover is a secret that can topple a political dynasty buried under seventy years of rubble. Suddenly entangled in a deadly legacy, he encounters the one person who can offer him redemption, for an unimaginable price.
Told from three alternating points of view, Martini’s World War II tale of intrigue, war, and heartbreak pulls the Iron Curtain back to reveal a country nursing its wounds after horrific defeat, an army of boys forever frozen at the gates of Stalingrad, British spies scheming to reshape Italy’s future, and the stinging unsolved murder of a partisan hero.
Ciao, Amore, Ciao is a gripping story of the most heroic, untold battle of the Second World War, and a brilliantly woven novel that brings the deceits of the past and the reckoning of the present together.
“Balances action, suspense, and emotional depth to deliver a truly immersive, thought-provoking read with an unflinching look at the sins of the past and the lengths to which the powerful will go to keep them buried.” ~ Sublime Book Review
Writing Interview Questions.
Why did you choose to write your book in this era?
Family history. My uncle vanished in Stalingrad in 1942/3. I spent a decade trying to find out what happened to him. Italy in WW2 and in the months after the end of the war is a subject and a time that I find fascinating. But really, it was a book about my family—a family of no ones—and a book I needed to write after I lost my dad. Italy, from December 1942 until the end of 1945, is not what many believe that era to be about. The cliché of Italy’s war—surrender and cowardice—couldn’t be further from the truth. From the Battle of Nikolayevka—which was the last human wave attack in history—to the silence of the bereaved, and the cold vengeance that came with the Allied victory, those three years are key to unlocking modern Italy.
Did you find researching this era particularly difficult? What was the hardest thing to find out, and did you come across anything particularly surprising?
I did research for this novel for over a decade, but looking back at it, I could never have written Ciao, Amore, Ciao while my dad was alive, given that it’s about his brother. The research was complicated. Complicated because I wanted to find out what happened to my uncle. I scoured the records that were available after the fall of the USSR for any trace of his name in the POW camps post-Stalingrad, and searched databases and read hundreds of books. It was good research for the novel, but ultimately, I never found him. My grandmother was convinced she’d recognised him in a photo published by Time magazine of Italian POWs still in Russia a decade after the war, and I went down that rabbit hole for many months, but that too was a dead lead. The surprising thing I discovered is how involved Italy was in the Battle of Stalingrad, and that Italian soldiers were embroiled in the last human wave attack in history. And that the truth of what happened over those 12 days when Italian soldiers had to battle their way through the ice fields of Russia (many of the same towns that are in the news now with the Ukraine War) was kept from the Italian public for over a decade, with survivors’ stories purposefully buried by the Italian state after WW2. That really was quite a shocker for me.
Can you share something about the book that isn’t covered in the blurb?
The front cover is my family: the tall guy in the soldier’s uniform is my uncle Alessandro, and the young blonde boy is my dad. If you look to the bottom right, you’ll see a suitcase. This image was taken on the day my uncle shipped out to Russia—he’s on his way to the train station—and no one would see him again. This was in the summer of 1942. The hairdresser salon in the background was owned by my grandad and then my aunt, and it’s still there, in Schio, all these years later. It was a couple of blocks away from where Hemingway used to hang out, this before he was injured in WW1 and went to Milan to recover and fell in love with the nurse that was the muse for his first novel.
If you had to describe your protagonist(s), in three words, what would those three words be and why?
Strength in frailty. A central theme in the book is that a man’s strength isn’t his ability to mask his feelings. A man’s true strength is to be able to feel the full weight of loss and still somehow find a way to go forward.
What was the most challenging part about writing your book?
Writing about my family. I lost my mom and dad within ten weeks of each other and began writing this novel less than a week after I buried my dad. He’s the glue that binds the central conceit of the novel—the journey of the antihero, Alex. Writing those words, having him speak, that was about the hardest thing I’ve ever written. I couldn’t find it in myself to hide or lie in this novel: for Ciao, Amore, Ciao to work, I needed to find the courage to be honest. And I found a lot of things in that honesty that weren’t comfortable. About me, and my family, and what it ultimately means to lose your mom and dad.
Was there anything that you edited out of this book that would have drastically affected the story, should it be left in?
There was, in an early chapter, a long section about losing my mom and what it means to a man. It was powerful, but it slowed the book, and it felt more like a letter to myself. It was better edited out.
What are you currently working on?
I have just signed a contract for my next novel which is part two of the Alex Lago series (the antihero in Ciao, Amore, Ciao). It’s about a South African golfer, his family, and Johannesburg in the 1990s. And I have the seed of my next novel bubbling.
What would you tell an aspiring author who had some doubts about their writing abilities?
There are writers and there are storytellers. If you have a story, write it. The bestselling authors of all time aren’t “great” writers. Harold Robbins, Robert Ludlum, even John Grisham, they write simply and effectively. So don’t let style get in the way of writing your stories. Just write them. Eventually you’ll find your style and your voice. Like anything, it’s a craft you learn with experience and time. The best advice? Writers write. It’s literally in the word (wait, was that a pun?!).
Personal Interview Questions.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I’m the head of marketing and creative for a videogame studio. I lose a lot at tennis and read way too many books. And marvel at my daughter.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A writer. Surprise! (Also a tennis player and a lawyer: I failed at both for pretty much the same reasons.)
What’s for dinner tonight? What would you rather be eating?
Tortelli with cacio e pepe is on the menu. Grilled fish in a restaurant in St Maarten is the dream.
What would be a perfect day?
Buying a book by an author I love, finding a park on an autumn day, reading in the cool sunshine, knowing my family is well and I am well and being able to float away into the words and the sunshine without any worries.
What is the best part of your day?
Waking up and ignoring emails and phones and writing until the world wakes up and assigns me the usual daily chaos!
Either or!
Tea or coffee: Espresso (a double shot every 2 hours!)
Hot or cold: The opposite of what the weather’s doing
Movie or book: Book, always
Morning person or Night owl: Morning (I wake up at 4am every day)
City or country: City until you’re 40, then country
Social Media or book: Book, always
Paperback or ebook: Paperback! (Corgi paperbacks especially!)
Sandro Martini has worked as a word monkey on three continents. He's the author of Tracks: Racing the Sun, an award-winning historical novel.
Sandro grew up in Africa to immigrant parents, studied law in Italy, chased literary dreams in London, hustled American dollars in New York City, and is now hiding out in Switzerland, where he moonlights as a Comms guy and tries hard not to speak German.
You can find him either uber-driving his daughter, chasing faster cars on the autobahn, or swimming in Lake Zurich with a cockapoo named Tintin. His latest historical suspense novel, Ciao, Amore, Ciao, is now available.
Follow the tour HERE!
Thanks so much for hosting Sandro Martini today, with such a fabulous interview linked to his thrilling new novel, Ciao, Amore, Ciao.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club