By Ignazio Silone

Fontamara portrays the impoverished, embattled peasants (cafoni) in Abruzzo and their spirited yet doomed opposition to the ruthless expansion of Mussolini's regime. An account of fascism, in the words of Graham Greene, which “should be read to its merciless end.”

Bread and Wine follows Pietro Spina as he seeks to evade capture by the fascist police and assumes the mantle of leadership for the cafoni’s rebellion against the regime. A stirring, deeply serious novel that stands as an achievement of aesthetic maturity.

The Seed Beneath the Snow concludes the trilogy, with Pietro Spina refusing pardon for his transgressions against the fascist state and taking up again the cause of the revolution. An extraordinary, unburnished vision of the conflict between good and evil.

Nota bene: The novels in The Abruzzo Trilogy are also available for individual purchase: Fontamara, Bread and Wine, and Seed Beneath the Snow.