The Lupo Stick

Set on a small island off Sicily in the late 1950s and in contemporary Oxford, this Italian epic is a tale of identity, family secrets and mystery. Above all, it is a love story. When Graziella Lupo is orphaned at the age of thirteen, she is obliged to live with her tyrannical aunt and her husband, the corrupt mayor of the island. Treated as a skivvy by the family, she vows revenge, however long it takes. The novel is narrated by Graziella's daughter Rosa when Graziella has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's; and Rosa is anxious to write her mother's story before it is too late. Valerie Blumenthal writes beautifully about the mother/daughter relationship, hidden secrets and Alzheimer s in her latest novel set in Italy. - Tina Betts, literary agent