‘I’m here, Nonna.’ Torri perches on the edge of the patchwork blanket. But Nonna isn’t looking at her. She’s looking at the stars outside. ‘Vittoria.’ Her tongue rasps on dry lips. ‘Mio bel ragazzo. Bello, bello.’ Nonna strokes her father’s cheek. ‘Sei sempre stato amato.’
‘I was always loved. I know that, Mamma.’ Torri’s dad is crying, her brave, tired dad, and she is struck by how that curious line on his hand, the one that Torri has, that nobody else has, but this stranger Will has too, is the same, the same. How it cuts a line of pigment like the equator between dark and light, pale palm and deeper skin.
Zio Dario rubs his eyes; he looks so wee, she wants to cuddle him. ‘You did find it, son.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘You grandpa’s brother. Francis Chapel. Is on a wee wooden plaque, in the grass. You found his grave, Will. ’Cause our Vita’s buried wi’ him.’
‘I’m sorry. I don’t understand.’
Nonna is struggling to speak. There is an urgency about her, she is reaching up and it’s as if that young, vibrant girl is reaching out of the frame. Dario quietens her.
‘I’ll dae it, Cesca hen. I’ll dae it.’
He grips Torri’s father’s shoulder, pulls him in for one fierce kiss. ‘Remember, nipote mio. You have always, always been loved. See, Vita wisny strong. Well, she was, she was. But no then. Oh, son. All we wanted was to keep you safe.’ Briefly, he shuts his eyes. The room stills, until there is only a family breathing and the tissue-thin scent of chestnuts.
‘She died just after you were born, Francesco.’
Then Uncle Dario begins to tell them a story.
Picture the scene.
Acknowledgements
Many people have helped in the making of this book. I’d like to thank my friends Helen Fitzgerald and Sergio Casci for leading me to Barga – and on up the steep hill to Sommocolonia; my friend Riccardo Pieri for his ever-generous hospitality and kindness; local historian Antonio Nardini for taking the time to speak to me; Carlo Puddu and Piergiorgio Pieroni for many historical insights, for showing me the museum at Borgo a Mozzano, and for revealing to me the Gothic Wall – inside and out; Andrea Vincenti and Anna Biondi for letting me access the museum at Sommocolonia; Julia Campbell Hamilton for some Italian translation; Sonia Ercolini, Comune di Barga and all the team who run Barga Scottish Week; Creative Scotland for their generous bursary which allowed me to travel and research in Tuscany; Angela Botti and Anna Maria Botti for local lore and language; the Museum of Resistance at Sant’Anna di Stazzema; Sara Moscardini and the Pascoli Foundation for kind permission to reproduce parts of L’Ora di Barga; my Rejects Book Group for chewing the fat over titles; my brilliant agent Jo Unwin, Milly, Donna and all at JULA; Gillian Stern for editorial excellence; Alexa Von Hirschberg, Marigold Atkey, Lynn Curtis, Terry Lee, Jasmine Horsey, Holly Ovenden and Lin Vasey and all at Bloomsbury for making this novel come to life.
A number of books have also been extremely helpful. These are: Buffalo Soldiers in Italy by Hondon B. Hargrove, Black Warriors by Ivan J. Houston with Gordon Cohn and Lasting Valor by Vernon J. Baker, all of which give insight into the lives, indignities and courage of the Buffalo Soldiers who fought in Italy; La Battaglia di Sommocolonia by Dario Gianni and Vittorio Lino Biondi (translated by Anne Leslie Saunders), which provides a detailed and powerful description of the battle and its impact on the people living there; Trapped in Tuscany by Tullio Bruno Bertini, a rich mine of detail on rural living at the time; Fascist Voices by Christopher Duggan – a glimpse into the rise of fascism, from the people who lived it; Partisan Diary by Ada Gobetti (translated by Jomarie Alano) which gives a rare female perspective on the risks and rewards of resistance; and last – but also first – Barga Sulla Linea Gotica by Monsignor Lino Lombardi. My Monsignor is a fictitious character, but I like to think he would have been approved of by the real Monsignor, whose meticulous recording of day-to-day life and death in Barga was invaluable in the writing of this novel. Any mistakes, or elision of facts for the sake of fiction are my own.
As always, my biggest and brightest love and thanks to Dougie, Eidann and Ciorstan. You know what for. Everything.
Note on the Author
Karen Campbell is a graduate of Glasgow University’s renowned Creative Writing Masters, and author of The Twilight Time, After the Fire, Shadowplay, Proof of Life, This Is Where I Am, which was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, and, most recently, Rise. A former police officer, and council PR, Karen lives with her family in Galloway, Scotland.
karencampbell.co.uk
Also available by Karen Campbell
Rise
Justine is running for her life. Escaping a city and a man who between them have almost broken her she heads north to the mountains and the valleys of the Highlands. She is looking for somewhere to hide.
Michael and Hannah are also running. With their two sons and their tattered marriage they have come to the village of Kilmacarra. They are looking for somewhere they can once again call home.
In a place of standing stones – an ancient landscape in a country on the brink of change – a shocking accident causes their lives to intertwine. Tangled together in threads of guilt and love, with Scotland rushing towards a referendum and the community around them fracturing, each must question where they truly belong.
And, as the ground beneath their feet begins to give up its secrets, and the darkness Justine fled grows close, each must also find a way to face their ghosts.
‘I am in awe of Karen Campbell’s writing. Rise soars and sears in equal measure – it is brilliant, unputdownable storytelling’ Mel Giedroyc
www.bloomsbury.com/KarenCampbell
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First published in Great Britain 2019
This electronic edition published in 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © Karen Campbell, 2019
Map © Neil Gower, 2019
Karen Campbell has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work
The writer acknowledges support from Creative Scotland towards the writing of this title
The moral right of the author has been asserted
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ISBN: HB: 978-1-4088-5737-3; TPB: 978-1-5266-0599-3; EBOOK: 978-1-4088-5736-6
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The Sound of the Hours Page 39
