Dino's Story

About the Book

From a tiny isolated village to the high art of Florence, Dino’s Story: A Novel of 1960s Tuscany completes the sweeping narrative of “A Tuscan Trilogy.” A boy just born in the first novel of the trilogy comes to Florence to study art, and, in this tumultuous decade of change, he is himself transformed as a devastating flood ruins not only works of art but also the lives of the poor and helpless.

In the first of the trilogy, The Cielo: A Novel of Wartime Tuscany, terrified villagers confront seemingly insurmountable dangers while trapped in a farmhouse during the German occupation of 1944. In the second, Sparrow’s Revenge: A Novel of Postwar Tuscany, set in 1955, a guilt-ridden partisan relentlessly pursues the collaborator of one of the worst massacres in Italy during World War II.

Martha Bergland, author of A Farm Under a Lake, calls Dino’s Story a “fascinating inside look at Florence through the eyes of Paul Salsini’s warm and complex characters. I couldn't put it down.” Lawrence Baldassaro, Professor Emeritus of Italian and Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, found it “an intriguing coming-of-age tale. Dino's Story is a seamless and conclusive sequel to the first two volumes of Paul Salsini's Tuscan trilogy. Once again, Salsini combines meticulous research, a keen eye for detail, and narrative dexterity.”

About the Author

The son of Italian immigrants, Paul Salsini is a veteran journalist who teaches writing courses at Marquette University. He and his wife, Barbara, have three children and four grandchildren and live in Milwaukee with their cat, Bella. Visit him online at www.thecielobook.com