About the Book
From a remote village near border between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire unrolls the intimate story of Teresa and Carlo, two young people whose paths cross and recross as they are first impelled by parents, then forced by sweeping world events to leave their childhood homes for lives they never imagined.
Having left her mother and cherished dog Allucio, in Ulfano, Teresa works as a domestic servant in a large villa in Trento. She survives the Great War in the occupied city by banding together in a makeshift family with the other servants of the owners who have fled to escape the occupation. Carlo, an American who is still new to Italy and with who speaks barely passable Italian, is just finding his footing in Trento, when he’s dragged from bed at his boarding school, along with his classmates, and conscripted by the invading Austrian army. In a comical twist of fate, Carlo’s childhood near the Colorado gold mines motivates his captors to place him with a company of miners tasked with digging entrenchments and bunkers in order to carve a massive fortress out of stone and ice, even as blizzards rage and artillery shells fall from the sky. Out of sheer loneliness, Carlo writes letters to Teresa, the girl he met only once in Trento.
After the war, Carlo returns to Trento and reconnects with Teresa. Times are unsettled, as soldiers and those who fled the war flood back to the city and signs of the impending Influenza epidemic appear. With so much chaos, tradition gives way to new ideas, so neither worries about the consequences of their growing attachment. However, the same independence that has them dreaming of a future that didn’t exist when they were children, may pull them apart forever.
Praise for Animals of the Alpine Front
I was captivated by the struggles of young American, Carlo, and Italian,Teresa, to survive and find happiness amid the horrors and chaos of the First World War’s less-explored Italian Front. As Teresa discovers the animal welfare work of an eccentric Englishman, we hope the spark of humanity may light their future in this riveting tale.
―Helen Simonson, New York Times bestselling author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club
I love novels that dig into the corners of history to tell us stories we need to know. Animals of the Alpine Front does that with breath-taking skill. Don Zancanella writes beautifully, with heart and soul, as he brings the First World War on the Italian border alive with strong, vivid characters searching for mercy and love amid the ugly chaos of war.
―Alyson Hagy, author of Scribe and Ghosts of Wyoming
A novel about the grand forces of war and disease and those whose destinies are shaped by their devastating caprice, Animals of the Alpine Front is a wonder. Even as his characters cross oceans and mountains, Zancanella paints with the finest of brushstrokes. Reading this novel is like taking a magnifying glass to a giant canvas and discovering in every square inch an intricate portrait or landscape, fully realized.
―Molly Patterson, author of Rebellion
Animals of the Alpine Front is immediately engaging, a mesmerizing portrait of war and the tender lives undone by battle. With a sweet and haunting narrative reminiscent of Marilynne Robinson, Zancanella’s novel casts a spell with its graceful rhythms and excellent storytelling, and grants these everyday people a kind of majesty.
―Timothy Schaffert, author of The Perfume Thief and The Titanic Survivors Book Club
Evocative. . .Zancanella describes the invaders with striking surrealism and portrays battle scenes with unflinching realism.
―Publishers Weekly
Praise for A Storm in the Stars
In A Storm in the Stars, Don Zancanella brings to vivid life a fascinating cast of characters. Today Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and their artistic and eccentric friends may seem larger than life names captured in stodgy English Literature textbooks. Zancanella renders them extraordinary and yet vitally real, down to earth, and so very, heartbreakingly, young.
―Denise Giardina, author of Emily’s Ghost
An elegant sojourn in the early 19th century inspired by the travels and travails of the Romantic poets Shelley and Lord Byron. The world of this novel especially brings Mary Shelley’s own brilliance to satisfying life.
―Alix Christie, author of Gutenberg’s Apprentice
About the Author
Don Zancanella is the author of two novels, Concord (Serving House Books, 2021) and A Storm in the Stars (Delphinium, 2022). He’s the recipient of an O. Henry Prize and his collection of short stories, Western Electric, won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. He and his wife live in New Mexico and Idaho. Animals of the Alpine Front was inspired by his family’s history in Italy and his wife Dorene’s work with a dog rescue organization.