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Start giftingThe Bishop's Villa
From the author of Nives, a story of love, redemption, and resistance set in Italy during WWII
Maremma, Tuscany, November 1943. Le Case is a village far from everything. Seen from there, even the war looks different—mostly waiting, prayers, poverty. As a fierce winter looms, an order is issued to arrest all Jews and detain them in the bishop's villa, awaiting deportation.
René is the town's shoemaker. Everyone calls him Settebello, “lucky seven,” a nickname he got at a young age after losing three fingers on a lathe. Now he's fifty years old. Shy, solitary, taciturn. No family or acquaintances—except for Anna, a lifelong friend who could have been something more. René never had the courage to declare his feelings. In fact, he never had the courage to do anything. His days are always the same: home and work—keep a straight path.
When Anna’s son Edoardo—who had secretly joined the Resistance—is captured and shot by the Wehrmacht, the woman vows to continue his mission. One evening she disappears, leaving René a note with a few instructions. When news spreads that a group of rebels have fallen into an ambush and are locked up in the bishop’s villa and that among them there’s a woman, Settebello can no longer just watch.
Masterfully weaving together personal and historical narratives, Naspini captures the essence of a community navigating the horrors of war. Inspired by real events, The Bishop’s Villa is a poignant reflection on the power of memory and the capacity of the human spirit to resist even in the darkest of times.
Sacha Naspini is the author of numerous novels and short stories that have been translated into several languages. Born in Grosseto, a town in Southern Tuscany, he has worked as an editor, an art director, and a screenwriter. Nives is his first novel to appear in English.
Clarissa Botsford has translated several works from the Italian, including Elvira Dones’s Sworn Virgin, Alessandro Baricco’s The Game, and the prose poems of Valerio Magrelli. She studied Italian at Cambridge and Comparative Education in London and currently teaches English and Translation Studies at Roma Tre University.