Set during the first half of the twentieth century, this is the story of the Brunis, a family of farmers from the Italian Padan Plain who have worked the land since time immemorial. And it is
a story about the homeless multitudes, travelers, and tinkers, roaming Europe during the hardscrabble nineteen-twenties and thirties. In this expansive novel, reminiscent of Bertolucci��
masterpiece 1900 in its scope and subject matter, these two worlds meet when the Brunis open their great barn and offer it as a refuge for those in need of a warm, dry, and safe place
to sleep and eat.
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The barn becomes font and inspiration for a series of vivid stories involving sundry strangers, the Bruni parents themselves, and their nine children��even boys and two girls��ho will grow
into young men and women during World War I and its aftermath. Told in the tradition of country folktales and framed by the devastating years of strife��wo world wars and the years of
fascism��hese stories will delight readers from the first page to the last. Manfredi�� A Winter�� Night provides a timely reminder that simple values and a sense of solidarity with our
fellow human beings remain of vital importance, above all in a world undergoing momentous and rapid change.
