The Book of Saints

by Nino Ricci

Set in a small, golden village nestled in folds of the Italian Apennines, The Book of Saints is a deceptively simple novel of startling power and mythic dimension. Young Vittorio Innocente is the pampered son of Cristina, a women whose husband has left Italy for work in North America. Beneath her placid surface, Cristina yearns to escape the restrictive village; and, one day, Vittorio is startled to find her in the family's stable, her ankle swelling from a snakebite. But what really happened to Cristina that day becomes the center of this tale—a story of passion and superstition beneath pastoral calm, a mother's secret life witnessed by a child. The first novel in a trilogy that follows Vittorio to adulthood, The Book of Saints is Ricci's acclaimed debut.

Genres: Fiction, Italy, Canada, Literature

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 1991

About the author

Nino Ricci’s first novel was the internationally acclaimed Lives of the Saints. It spent 75 weeks on the Globe and Mail‘s bestseller list and was the winner of the F.G. Bressani Prize, the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. In England it won Betty Trask Award and Winnifred Holtby Prize, in the U.S. was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and in France was an Oiel de la lettre Selection of the National Libraries Association.

Published in seventeen countries, Lives of the Saints was the first volume of a trilogy that continued with In a Glass House, hailed as a “genuine achievement” by The New York Times, and Where She Has Gone, nominated for the Giller Prize. The Lives of the Saints trilogy was adapted for a television miniseries starring Sophia Loren and Kris Kristofferson.

Books in Canada commented that Ricci’s trilogy “so amply demonstrates the author’s tremendous talents that we would be foolish as readers not to follow him down whatever road he next chooses to follow.” That road led him to Testament, a fictional retelling of the life of Jesus. Hailed as a “masterpiece” by Saturday Night, Testament was a Booklist Choice for the Top Ten Historical Novels of the Year and a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Prize and for the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Award for Fiction and was a winner of the Trillium Award.

Ricci’s national bestseller The Origin of Species earned him the Canadian Authors Association Fiction Award as well as his second Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Set in Montreal in 1980s, the novel casts a Darwinian eye on the life of Alex Fratarcangeli, who is torn between his baser impulses and his pursuit of the Good. “This novel does so well, on so many levels,” wrote the Toronto Star, “that it’s hard to know where to begin tallying up the riches.”

Ricci is also the author of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a short biography that forms part of Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians series, edited by John Ralston Saul. Ricci’s biography, according to HistoryWire, “provides the best, and best written, perspective on Trudeau there is.”

Ricci's newest novel is Sleep, out in the fall of 2015.

Reviews

[Alice Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the first of three that follows the protagonist, Vittorio, and chronicles the impact upon his childhood has on his life. This first book was my favorite of the three, as it deals with setting the stage for what is to come in future.

I had the pleasure of attending a reading of his work by his wife, whose voice equally matches the tone of his writing. She was simply mesmerizing, and conveyed all the quiet intensity that his words do.

[Suzan Lemont · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's worthy of 3 1/2 stars but Goodreads still doesn't allow half stars (eye rolling icon here). Reminded me a bit of John Bergers books about village life in France with the descriptions of various village characters and the scenery and the simplicity of the writing. It's not an uplifting read and in this respect reminded me of Angela's Ashes (but less grim). I liked it well enough and would consider reading the rest of the trilogy but it was a little spare in its prose and I couldn't help but feel a little tinge of disappointment.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably enjoyed this book more than the average reader because the region, Molise, featured in the novel is proximate to my grandmother’s home region, Abruzzi. The superstitions and customs felt like reminiscing about the life my grandmother and her family led before she was shipped off by her family to America to marry an Italian emigre she did not know. Seen through a child’s eyes, this story was sweet and sentimental and also laugh out loud funny in parts.

[Maya Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like this. it's kind of boring, but a really cool social/cultural/religious snapshot of this community. it's like one of those huckleberry finn type of books, but italian instead. interesting and pretty beautiful

[Isabel Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Name felt familiar so I just went with it. The narrator kinda just has a beautiful and innocent way of looking at things, I liked reading from his perspective. Wasn’t sure what I was expecting but a pretty simple and peaceful read

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

1950's: Depressing account of a a young boy with his mother immigrating from Italy to Canada to his father's house due to her being pregnant. The mother dies in childbirth on the ship, the father takes his son and the daughter of his wife in, but they ignore the daughter. Relatives who are also in Canada (near Windsor) help out. He has greenhouses.

Good explanation of European (Italian) culture and of emotions/adaptations of immigrants to a foreign country with a different language and different culture.

Book 1 of 3.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting....

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written, but not very engrossing.