“If history is the story of winners and the powerful, it’s not only the fault of historians; the fact is that the traces of the past with which they work—‘documents’—are left by those arranging for their own posterity…Camilleri rebels against this fiction, creating another, more refined and luminous one.” La Repubblica (Rome)
Description
Based on a true story, a “wild west” tale of two brothers who battle both the state and a Mafia empire in 1920s Italy.
Raffadali, province of Agrigento, 1920s. The Sacco brothers are free men with strong ideas about socialism and the state. Their lives change radically one morning when their father, Luigi Sacco, receives an anonymous letter from the local Mafia demanding protection money and is the victim of a robbery attempt. Luigi tells the police of the extortion letters he received, but the police don’t know what to do: no one in the village has ever dared denounce the Mafia before. From that moment on, the Sacco brothers must defend themselves—from the Mafia and the forces of order, from their collaborators, traitors, and from the village’s leaders—as they are assailed by murder attempts, false accusations, and false testimony.
Through the tale of the Sacco brothers and what happens to the town of Raffadali, The Sacco Gang makes clear that not only does the Mafia kill people but it can also condition and irreparably devastate people’s lives.
Praise
“If history is the story of winners and the powerful, it’s not only the fault of historians; the fact is that the traces of the past with which they work—‘documents’—are left by those arranging for their own posterity…Camilleri rebels against this fiction, creating another, more refined and luminous one.” La Repubblica (Rome)
“A vivid historical novel…A riveting story of how organized crime, political corruption, and judicial duplicity can oppress freedom.” Publishers Weekly
“Offering a straightforward and unromantic account of escalating violence in the Sicilian countryside, the author depicts the unrelenting terror of shoot-outs, ambushes, and assaults. Verdict: Based on historical events, Camilleri’s latest is not light reading for the armchair traveler but instead a realistic representation of a region dominated by organized crime and a corrupt justice system in the first half of the twentieth century.” Library Journal
“An Italian family goes from poverty to prosperity and then to infamy in this brisk account of the persecution the Mafia brought to 1920s Italy, based on a true story…The injustice here has an immediacy; the tale itself feels part of legend.” Kirkus Reviews
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Jul 16, 2018 |
| Release Date | July 17, 2018 |
| Release Date Machine | 1531785600 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
Andrea Camilleri (1925–2019) wrote the internationally bestselling Inspector Montalbano mysteries as well as historical novels. His books have been made into television shows in Italy and translated into thirty-two languages. His thirteenth Montalbano novel, The Potter’s Field, won the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger Award and was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Narrator Bio
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.
Overview
Based on a true story, a “wild west” tale of two brothers who battle both the state and a Mafia empire in 1920s Italy.
Raffadali, province of Agrigento, 1920s. The Sacco brothers are free men with strong ideas about socialism and the state. Their lives change radically one morning when their father, Luigi Sacco, receives an anonymous letter from the local Mafia demanding protection money and is the victim of a robbery attempt. Luigi tells the police of the extortion letters he received, but the police don’t know what to do: no one in the village has ever dared denounce the Mafia before. From that moment on, the Sacco brothers must defend themselves—from the Mafia and the forces of order, from their collaborators, traitors, and from the village’s leaders—as they are assailed by murder attempts, false accusations, and false testimony.
Through the tale of the Sacco brothers and what happens to the town of Raffadali, The Sacco Gang makes clear that not only does the Mafia kill people but it can also condition and irreparably devastate people’s lives.
Reviews
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