Loves & Miracles of Pistola

by Hilary Prendini Toffoli

In a tiny Italian village, life in the 1950s is a daily pageant of small human dramas. There are lippy signoras and earthy farmworkers. There is a coffin maker, a silkworm farmer and those who catch frogs for the town’s local frog risotto. And then there’s Pistola, a teenage boy in love with his second cousin Teresa, a girl who is sadly destined to marry the village thug.To escape his heartache, young Pistola accepts the offer of a to travel to South Africa to work on the trains. In lively Johannesburg, he and a group of compatriots are trained as stewards and taught to speak English – and Afrikaans.It’s not all work, mind you. The Italians set up home in Hillbrow and go partying in Sophiatown with the likes of Miriam Makeba. When Pistola falls for the spunky Malikah, a political activist, the apartheid police watch every breath of their passionate, illicit relationship.Flash forward a few years, when Pistola, no longer the gauche village boy, must return home to make a decision that will define his future.Witty, affectionate and vivid, this coming-of-age novel pays homage to the 110 young Italian men who were recruited to work on the South African Railways and introduced Italian cuisine to the nation.

296 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 22, 2020

Reviews

[Caterina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book! A colourful storyline filled with interesting characters and historic tidbits. A great read for anyone looking to get lost in Italian food and history, and learn a little about South Africa's turbulent past. I loved all the references to food very cleverly weaved into the plot line. I resonated with main character a lot, and found it a very heartwarming read.

[Victoria Braaf]

Absolutely loved this book. A 'can't put down' literary fest of travel, food, family, friends, growing up, complete with moral dilemmas and weighty life choices.

Loved the smattering of italian words and phrases and I'm enjoying using my new curse word learned from Nonno Mario.

[Anschen Conradie · Rating 5 out of 5]

#LoveAndMiraclesOfPistola - Hilary Prendini Toffoli
#PenguinRandomHouseSA

In a tiny Italian village in the 1950’s, a 17 year old boy, Pistola, is introduced to the reader. He lives with his grandfather, an excellent cook and a huge presence. He is loud and overbearing and has opinions on everything, except Pistola’s parents; that subject is forbidden. He is the also the one who nicknamed his grandson Pistola (his birth name is Ettore) ‘....... as a toddler he was so obsessed with the little pistol between his baby legs, his grandfather had called him Pistola.’

Life in the village is simple, but colourful. Pistola is secretly in love with his second cousin, Teresa, a girl sadly destined to marry the village thug - who happens to be the brother of Pistola’s best friend. Several interesting characters live in the same village: a coffin maker; a silkworm farmer; workers in the rice fields and a frog catcher.

Pistola is a keen observer of the world around him and describes people and events in fine detail; even seemingly unimportant things like a person snoring: ‘The concerto changes key constantly and moves from a gargling sound to a shallow death rattle, followed by a deep body-filling breath that abruptly turns into a burp as loud as a shotgun.’

He is a bit naïve regarding females and thus responds, during his catastrophic meeting with an amorous girl in Rome, who invited ‘..... I’d like to give you a shining memory of the Eternal City’ as follows: ‘What ? A miniature St Peter’s Cathedral in fake marble ?’

Then young Pistola and his friends accept the offer of a lifetime: to go to South Africa and work as stewards on the trains. Pistola is allocated to the Johannesburg-LM line, sets up home in Hillbrow and is introduced South Africa’s racially based segregation at the time when he witnesses the forced removals in Sophiatown where he meets Miriam Makeba. The cuisine of his new country is foreign to him, a young man used to his grandfather’s outstanding Italian culinary abilities, and he describes his first experiences with porridge and biltong in his usual, clolourful way. In Mozambique Portuguese cuisine is met with similar distrust and he starts dreaming of one day owning a proper Italian restaurant.

When Pistola falls in love with a political activist from the Malayan Quarter, he has to face the consequences of the Immorality Act and is sent back to Italy. But he is not the same Pistola who left 3 years before; will he be able to adapt to the life in a small village again ?

Fans of Sally Andrew (creator of the Tannie Maria novels) will devour this novel and fall in love with Pistola within the first chapter. It is written very vividly and with great affection. I was thus not surprised when I read the following on the back cover: ‘...... this coming-of-age novel pays homage to the 110 Italian men who were recruited to work on the South African Railways and introduced Italian cuisine to the nation.’

Five stars from me.

#Uitdieperdsebek

[Beryl Eichenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this lusty, full-bodied story. Like the Italy she writes about, Hilary's narrative is forthright and sensuous with great dollops of humour in the characters. She brings together the Italians' passion for good food, opera and drama with the repressed South Africa of the 1950s as a small group of young Italians make their way to SA to become railway stewards and, ultimately, to birth Italian cuisine in this country. An absolute delight to read and so descriptive that when you are in Pistola's Italian village, feasting on much loved dishes and weeping over lost loves you are living the era. Coming to SA, understanding the laws of the time and working on the railways is a stark contrast but Hilary's talent lies in showing this without sparing the reader. When I had finished I felt satisfied, like a good meal, but with a little space nagging for more...I hope there is a sequel.

[Theresa Hargitai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun! I want to read it again as a culinary tour and try each beloved dish.

There is a great deal going on in this rollicking, joyful account of a young man's coming of age in Italy and later in South Africa as a railway steward who can't get his head around our ridiculous apartheid laws and (mostly) awful food. It is an interesting perspective of our history here in South Africa and the birth of our love affair with Italian cuisine, although that isn't the focus of the book. I look forward to a sequel covering Pistola's culinary exploits.

A delightful interview with the author:
https://cdn.podigee.com/media/podcast...

[June Arderne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely book set in Italy and South Africa.
It involves a young man trying to find his father in South Africa.
He manages to get work on the trains in South Africa to pursue his search.
He has a couple of romances with different young ladies in Italy and South Africa and finally finds the love of his life.
This book pays homage to the 110 young Italian men who were recruited by SA Railways to work on the trains and introduced Italian cuisine to South Africa.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably wouldn’t have read this book if Hilary wasn’t a friend of mine but I’m certainly glad I did. I really enjoyed it and found it very interesting. Lots of adventure and romance and insight into Italian culture in a small village. I did, however, struggle to keep track of all the different characters in the first part i.e. in Italy. Not sure if it’s because they were all foreign names, but there were just so many of them. Nevertheless, I recommend this book as a pleasant, easy read.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful diversion from Italy to Africa. Bellissima! Mooi so!

[Marion Roux · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel has been cleverly crafted from true facts of young Italian men being shipped out to South Africa to be trained as stewards servicing the long distance trains. It is a light-hearted romp in the Apartheid years which ends with the introduction of good Italin eateries in South Africa.
Rather delightful.