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Publishing date: April 24, 2012<br />
Pages: 288<br />
bACk<strong>list</strong><br />
MARIA RosA CUTRUFELLI<br />
i bAMbini dellA ginestrA<br />
The children of ginestra<br />
A riveting And vibrAnt nOvel On the First MAssACre deCreed by the stAte: pOrtellA<br />
dellA ginestrA.<br />
set in siCily AFter WOrld WAr ii, the stOry OF tWO kids sepArAted by sOrrOW And<br />
inJustiCe And reunited by lOve, FAith And tenderness.<br />
1947: major Sicilian land-lords have struck an alliance with the Mafia and the<br />
bandits to hold on to their estates. But in the countryside, farm laborers have occupied<br />
uncultivated lands, and on April 20th their movement, “Blocco del popolo” (the People’s<br />
Union), surprisingly wins regional elections. It calls for a celebration, and two thousand<br />
laborers, on foot, bicycles and mules, gather in Portella della Ginestra, a small plateau<br />
deep in the forbidding mountains surrounding the Palermo area. There will be music,<br />
food and political speeches, a feast for Labor Day on May 1 st .<br />
But on those same mountain peaks, a message from an unknown source has reached<br />
bandit Giuliano, with the order to shoot on the helpless crowd. Eleven dead, thirty-seven<br />
injured. And many more were wounded in their soul, if not their body.<br />
At the time, Enza and Lillo were just children, but they witnessed it all: he lost his<br />
father, and she saw his killers, but can’t speak up. Soon they will be brought together by<br />
their passion, but this silence will stand between them. Their nights are full of fear, their<br />
days with anger. They rage against all accomplices to the massacre, both institutions and<br />
private individuals. Against the indifference. And the lies.<br />
Their will to live will prove stronger, but to shatter the silence stifling their memory<br />
and to once more become able to love – and love each other –, the two “Children of<br />
Ginestra” must start on a long journey, in search of the truth. For if truth can make us<br />
free, we must first free the truth.<br />
“Maria Rosa Cutrufelli’s rich and accurate writing recalls the severe grace of Maria Bellonci.” Panorama<br />
I bambInI della GInestra is pArt OF the suCCessFul neW WAve OF “pOlitiCAl” nOvels On<br />
reCent itAliAn histOry, like Gomorra by rObertO sAviAnO And Canale mussolInI by AntOniO<br />
pennACChi.<br />
MAriA rOsA CutruFelli lives and works in Rome. she is a nove<strong>list</strong>, essayist and radioplay writer.<br />
her most successful works include the novels Canto al deserto (1994) and Il paese dei figli perduti (1999). With<br />
Frassinelli, she has published La donna che visse per un sogno (2004), short<strong>list</strong>ed at the strega Award and<br />
recipient of several literary awards, La Briganta (2005) and Complice il dubbio (2006).<br />
lA dOnnA Che visse per un sOgnO The woman who lived for a dream – 2004<br />
Foreign sales pOrtugAl Presença, turkey Alfa Basim, spAin Ediciones Urano, greeCe Empiria, FrAnCe<br />
Autrement, brAZil Record, lithuAniA Mintis<br />
prizes preMiO AlgherO dOnnA, preMiO reCAlMAre, preMiO CittÀ di sAntA MArinellA, shor<strong>list</strong>ed for<br />
preMiO stregA, preMiO pAOlO vOlpOni, preMiO pOZZAle Luigi Russo<br />
lA brigAntA The outlaw – 2005<br />
Foreign sales pOlAnd DodoEditor<br />
COMpliCe il dubbiO Bound by doubt – 2006<br />
Foreign sales CAnAdA Éditions soleil, gerMAny Wagenbach<br />
FiCtiOn LITERARY<br />
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