2023-05-20 13:42:27
A novel about the hunt for truth, between past and present, in the wake of a legacy to be honored which will lead to the discovery of a cruel injustice on one of the fronts of the Great War: it is “The secret of Lieutenant Giardina” (Rizzoli) by Giovanni Fat, written on the double track of the war diary and the story of the protagonists, the architect Luce and the journalist Marco, called to discover the hidden pages, for the greater good, by the officer who gives the work its name.
A stylistic choice, that of alternating excerpts from the original diary and live plot, which reaches the climax of tension when the two planes intersect, ending up fitting together, giving life to a sort of reconstructed and finally revealed war noir , like a cold case, over a century later.
To make possible the discovery of the truth, of the “secret” of Lieutenant Gaetano Giardina, the harmony that is created between Luce – to whom her recently deceased grandmother has left the task of finding out where to bring the flowers to the grave of her son, the infantryman Antonio Crespi , lost in the Dolomites- and Marco, descendant, precisely, of Lieutenant Giardina, who was his direct superior under the fatal and bloody mass in the clashes with the Austro-Hungarians of Cima Bocche.
An exciting plot. With a particular historical value: in prominence, not so much the inhumanity of war between enemies but above all of that within the departments, where zealous generals carry out ferocious and blatant injustices. Fueled, moreover, by slanderous fellow soldiers, animated by a pure desire for revenge, but made possible by the directives of iron discipline and marble rigor imparted by the Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna.
A well-known theme, which calls into question the story of the many Italian soldiers deemed worthy of being whipped like beasts, indeed terrified in order to never retreat and to fight beyond all heroism. A collateral plot of the novel, which unfolds between Rome, Caltanissetta and the Dolomites, is the process of spiritual and even religious growth of the co-protagonist, the journalist Carlo. The ‘mission’ undertaken with Luce leads him to a confrontation with a painful past in the family and to the acquisition of a new self-awareness, openness to others, rediscovery of feelings.
Giovanni Grasso, currently adviser for the press and communication of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, has numerous publications to his credit, including the biographies of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and Piersanti Mattarella, and made his debut as a novelist in 2019 with “The Kaufmann case “, followed in 2021 by “Icarus, the flight over Rome”, both for the types of Rizzoli. (by Cristiano Fantauzzi)
#cold #case #tragic #injustice #Great #War