Salsini spins a tale of both cruelty and courage and affirms, yet again, the ability of humans to endure.-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"Salsini's beautiful novel of Italy during World War II, peopled with a wide range of characters, deepens our knowledge of both Tuscan hill towns and the terrible effects of war on civilians."-Martha Bergland, author of A Farm Under a Lake"The Cielo is an unforgettable read. You won't be able to put it down, through tears and smiles, until you reach the very end."-Bookreview.comOrdered by the Germans to evacuate, a group of Italian villagers flees to a farmhouse in the beautiful hills of Tuscany. As the war rages around them, the refugees confront betrayal by one villager, fearlessly house an escaped prisoner, and survive a raid by the Nazis. A young girl finds love, two boys become heroes, and secrets are revealed before an unthinkable event changes their lives forever.Inspired by experiences of Salsini's relatives, The Cielo: A Novel of Wartime Tuscany is a gripping story of courage, endurance, and the power of the human spirit.
Paul Salsini is a veteran Milwaukee journalist, having been a reporter, state editor and staff development director at The Milwaukee Journal. He now teaches writing courses in the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University. He was the Wisconsin correspondent for The New York Times for twenty years and his travel essays have appeared in The Times and elsewhere.
He is the author of three historical novels that make up "A Tuscan Trilogy." The Cielo: A Novel of Wartime Tuscany is the story of a group of villagers trapped in a farmhouse during WWII. The book received First Place in Fiction from the Council for Wisconsin Writers and from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. Sparrow's Revenge: A Novel of Postwar Tuscany describes a partisan's relentless search for a collaborator of a Nazi massacre, and the just-published Dino's Story: A Novel of 1960s Tuscany is about a boy who comes of age helping the poor and destitute during the devastating flood in Florence in 1966.
