Pino Lella is, in fact, a real person, and this novel is based on his life. If you were Pino what decision would you have made?

[Lorri]

[Mary]

Lella is real, but in reality, the novel is not based on his wartime experiences or activities. It most definitely in now way "hews closely to what happened to" him. Like (the vast majority of) the readers, (I hope and trust) the publisher staff were similarly bamboozled by the author. Still, it will eventually have to accept that it was ill-advised to publish it in its present form, and to mismarket it as "based on a true story". One of its biggest mistakes was its atypical disclaimer in the U.S. edition.

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