Mattia Bertoldi, La resistente (The Resistance Fighter)
Mattia Bertoldi
The Resistance Fighter
Novel
In 1944, in Valsolda, northern Italy, Lucia Buonvicini fought fascism by assuming a dual identity: mother on the outside, partisan on the inside.
Valsolda, 1944. For Lucia Buonvicini’s Swiss-born family, the Italian village of Oria — overlooking Lake Lugano — was supposed to be a temporary refuge. But the armistice of 8 September throws all their plans into disarray and leads Lucia to join the Resistance under the code name Nichi, beginning a double life in which one misstep means death. The fascist commander Castelli and his Black Brigade hold sway over the region and launch a round-up operation that pushes almost every partisan into Switzerland. Only a few men hold out in the mountains. Castelli knows that the rebels are hiding weapons and to find them he watches Lucia, forcing her to use Renzo — her nine-year-old son — to communicate with the partisans. Winter is approaching and Falco’s group of fighters is forced to abandon their hideout as the boundaries between loyalty and betrayal blur.
“Shadow told him all about September 1943 and how his mother had sided with the partisans. He described one of their missions, transporting arms from one side of the border to the other. He assured him that Nichi was just a nom de guerre, and deep down she had always been Lucia. His mum.”
Lucia is subjected to the most extreme test of resistance, before being expelled from Italy. In May 1945, while the world awaits the capture of Mussolini, she tries to return clandestinely through the mountains to be reunited with her children. She never arrives. Based on a true story, this novel explores motherhood, rebellion and how far one woman is willing to go in the name of freedom.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mattia Bertoldi writes novels, newspaper articles, short stories and television series. Born in 1986 in Lugano, he studied Italian and English literature and linguistics in Zurich. In 2017, he published the novel Le cose belle che vorrai ricordare and, two years later, Come tanti piccoli ricordi; both were published by TEA/Tre60. Il coraggio di Lilly, published by the same publisher in May 2022, was his first historical novel.
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