Return to Valetto (Dominic Smith, A&U)

This is the sixth novel from Australian-American author Dominic Smith, perhaps best known locally for his 2017 ABIA-winning novel The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. The fictional Valetto, in Umbria, is an almost-deserted hilltop town. It’s home to a decaying villa inhabited by a tribe of English-Italian widows, and mysteries from the past that keep bubbling their way to the surface. Our trustworthy and sympathetic narrator is Hugh Fisher, a widowed historian and father who specialises in abandoned places. As nephew and grandson of the women in the villa, he spent long childhood summers in Valetto on holiday from Michigan. When he returns to the Italian town for an extended visit for academic purposes and his grandmother’s 100th birthday, he faces the intrusion of an audacious visitor who unexpectedly claims ownership of the villa’s cottage, which was left to Hugh by his late mother. This leads to the unearthing of several overlooked chapters of family history relating to the war and the mysterious disappearance of his grandfather. Peppered with food references, grieving hearts and poetically Italian phrases, Smith’s novel is an authentic yarn, with conflict, tension and an enchanting crew of eccentric characters. It ponders how it is that we sometimes don’t really know the people we love, and why painful memories are sometimes kept hidden. Reminiscent of other Italy-set wartime or small-town stories such as The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida or The Fireflies of Autumn by Moreno Giovannoni, Return to Valetto is full of rich imagery and captivating storytelling. It is highly recommended for Italophiles and anyone looking to be swept up in character-driven drama.

Read Shiells’s interview with Dominic Smith about Return to Valetto here.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Joanne Shiells is an English and Italian teacher, and a former editor of Books+Publishing. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Reviews