About a year ago I made a bid on a book translation and was privileged to be the person who won the translation. That book was The Long Road Home, by Flavio Girardelli (original title in Italian Io Ritorno Domani). Flavio introduces us to a group of best friends from boyhood, including Lorenzo, Augusto, Giorgio and Emanuele in such a way that we would recognize them right away if we met them on the street. From there, he goes on to the first, definitely impressionable and somewhat disastrous first encounter between boy and girl on the beach of Lake Garda, to then continue down the road to new jobs and the second, “fatal” encounter in Padua.
Flavio then takes us on an exciting adventure in the Trentino area in Northern Italy, an exploration of some of the most delightful scenery in Northern Italy, where our protagonists encounter a flock of sheep and a very annoying, recalcitrant donkey; eat at a restaurant with typical, mouthwatering foods of the zone; meet a cow they “adopted” and to top everything off quite nicely, they take part in a very enticing Medieval Festival, with authentic foods, music and workmanship of the times.
And then they begin their way home…
The Long Road home is truly a choice read, full of fun, adventure and the unknown. The book starts out in the early 2000s and ends somewhat further ahead in the future. The ending will most likely bring tears to your eyes (they did to mine) but they will be tears of joy.
Click here to download and read the first chapter of The Long Return Home by Flavio Girardelli.
©December 5, 2014 by Mary Purpari. All Rights Reserved
