A Winter's Night

Set during the first half of the twentieth century, this is the story of the Brunis, a family of farmers from the Italian Padan Plain who have worked the land since time immemorial. And it is a story about the homeless multitudes, travelers and tinkers, roaming Europe during the hardscrabble nineteen-twenties and thirties. In this expansive novel, these two worlds meet when the Brunis open their doors and their hearts, offering refuge for those in need of a warm, dry, and safe place to sleep and eat.

The Brunis' barn becomes font and inspiration for a series of vivid stories involving sundry strangers, the Bruni parents themselves, and their nine children-seven boys and two girls-who will grow into young men and women during World War I and its aftermath. Told in the tradition of country folktales and framed by the devastating years of strife-two world wars and the years of fascism-this story will delight readers from the first page to the last.

Manfredi's A Winter's Night provides a timely reminder that simple values and a sense of solidarity with our fellow human beings remain of vital importance, above all in a world undergoing momentous and rapid change.