Home / Shop

Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith

$35.00
Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith

Home / Shop

Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith

$35.00
“I was completely charmed and transported by Return to Valetto.”
- Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins and The Angel of Rome

A nearly abandoned Italian village, the family that stayed, and long-buried secrets from World War II.

On a hilltop in Umbria sits Valetto. Once a thriving village—and a hub of resistance and refuge during World War II—centuries of earthquakes, landslides, and the lure of a better life have left it neglected. Only ten residents remain, including the widows Serafino—three eccentric sisters and their steely centenarian mother—who live quietly in their medieval villa. Then their nephew and grandson, Hugh, a historian, returns.

But someone else has arrived before him, laying claim to the cottage where Hugh spent his childhood summers. The unwelcome guest is the captivating and no-nonsense Elisa Tomassi, who asserts that the family patriarch, Aldo Serafino, a resistance fighter whom her own family harbored, gave the cottage to them in gratitude. But like so many threads of history, this revelation unravels a secret—a betrayal, a disappearance, and an unspeakable act of violence—that has impacted Valetto across generations. Who will answer for the crimes of the past?
Maximum quantity exceeded
Minimum purchase amount of 1 is required
Maximum purchase amount of 20 is allowed
Your Price: $35.00
35.000
A one-time price of $35.00 will be added to your order.
Maximum purchase amount of 20 is allowed
*A one-time handling fee of $4.16 will be added to your shipping total at checkout.
Categories: Books
Facebook
Email
LinkedIn
  • Description

Hardcover, signed

Out now in Australia; Releases June 13, 2023 in the US.

Praise for Return to Valetto

“More fine work from a gifted storyteller: engrossing, well written, and affecting.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“…a riveting journey into one family’s dark history, and a page-turning excavation of history…While the story is bedded in history, what Smith has so masterfully captured is how this history lives and breathes in the present.”

—The Australian

“An intriguing saga of wartime promises and trauma…This intelligent family drama will keep readers turning the pages.”

—Publishers Weekly

“I was completely charmed and transported by Return to Valetto, Dominic Smith’s smart, engaging novel about the secrets held within a dying Italian village. This terrific novel, about loss and family and the weight of history, is probably as close as I’ll ever get to buying one of those picturesque Italian villas, and surely a wiser investment.”

—JESS WALTER, author of Beautiful Ruins and The Angel of Rome

“The revelations of Return to Valetto—those of history, and those of the heart—unfold with meticulous grace in Dominic Smith’s stately and majestic novel. With fascists breathing down our necks anew, Return to Valetto could not be more timely, but it is the fine writing and high drama that make it so memorable, and so moving.”

—JOSHUA FERRIS, author of A Calling for Charlie Barnes

“In this propulsive, lush, and haunting novel, Dominic Smith transports us to a near-abandoned town in Umbria and shows how the courage to voice unspeakable secrets of the past can give new life to crumbling bonds of family and community. Filled with enormous hope for the future and rich appreciation for history, Return to Valetto will make you want to race through to the end but also slow down to savor the beautiful writing and sharp insights. I couldn’t put it down.”

—ANGIE KIM, author of Miracle Creek

Packed with lush details and a gripping narrative, Dominic Smith has written a masterful novel about the ways in which the past echoes through generations, how the human heart is both fragile and resilient, and what it takes to stand up for justice no matter how much time has passed. Return to Valetto is a story of love, loss, and the enduring power of hope. Propulsive, heartfelt, and sneakily funny, I was transfixed from page one.”

—LARA PRESCOTT, author of The New York Times bestseller The Secrets We Kept

Related Products

  • Italia Lirica, Views from my Villa Window

    Italia Lirica, Views from my Villa Window

    $29.95
    The lyrical beauty of Italy beckons the curious and the passionate from around the world.

    For over forty years, the author has lived in or traveled across Italy. He continues to seek, and share in his words, a deeper understanding of the importance placed on family and the diversity of Italian culture. This is a country he describes as his soul's home.

    From the north, where snowcapped Alps ring shimmering lakes, to the south, where cultures of millennia have created a complex weave of language, faith, art, and food, this peninsula has profoundly influenced the development of western civilization.

    The word “view” most often implies seeing someone or something. The word also implies the way we consider an idea or a place in a particular light or with a particular attitude. This book's title refers to the word “view” as a blend of those two definitions.

    What readers will find in these essays is a sense of walking with the author as he shares unforgettable encounters with the Italian people and experiences the astonishing variety and diversity of Italian culture.

    Join other followers of the author's books as he continues his quest to define what it is that makes Italy so unique and so unforgettable.
    ADD TO CART CHECKOUT NOW

    Italia Lirica, Views from my Villa Window

    $29.95
    ADD TO CART CHECKOUT NOW
    Successfully Added to your Shopping Cart
    Adding to Cart...