Era un bravo ragazzo

This is the story of two friends, two mothers, and two wives. A story that takes place between Sciacca and Pertuso Piccione, in Western Sicily. Giovanni and Santino are childhood friends who both dreamed of sweet redemption, between Gagarin’s spaceflight, American cinema, and the beauty of their hometown. Giovanni has to rise up to the social aspirations set by his mother Cettina. Santino wants to save his mother Assunta from the dubious destiny to which she exposed them to provide for their family. “What kind of men will we become?” They don’t have time to find the answer as life catches up with them and they get gradually absorbed in deals made over their heads. Santino becomes a prince of concrete who accepts increasingly profitable contracts with more and more strings attached. Giovanni, a lawyer with shady and powerful connections, applies his skills as a man of the law to help those who use the law to conceal the advantage of a few against the needs of the many. They both end up in great marriages and thrive through the dark 1980s, the terrible years of the mafia wars. Anna, a lawyer with a social conscience specialized in water rights, would like to “save” Giovanni, who is married to Veronica. Santino’s devoted wife Margherita provides him a stable family life and safe shelter from the blood and violence. But the public and private construction sector does not allow for transparency or justice, and the two friends are swept away in a spiral with no escape. The only things that endure are the barbels of adolescence and Assunta’s radiant beauty, the embodiments of the Sicily from their dreams, which doesn’t stop dreaming of its own well-being.Simonetta Agnello Hornby’s novel isn’t just a book about a mafia that might not shoot but rules over the island’s economy. Above all, it is a story about the fierce power of family and the heart-wrenching desire to return to the land where one’s identity and hopes are rooted.