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Mary DiNunzio, an associate in the all-female law firm headed by Benedetta Rosato, is researching a case that is over 60 years old. It is a little known fact that thousands of Italian-born American citizens were interned during World War II, just as the Japanese and German-Americans were. Mary has been asked to look into the death of Amadeo Brandolini in one of the camps. He had been sent to Montana, even though he had been in the US for many years, had become a citizen, married and raised a family by fishing for a living, all in the same small house in South Philadelphia. He died in the camp but there is no record of his burial place, which is strange, because the others who died in the camp were buried on-site and the location of their graves recorded. Mary wants reparations for his estate. Under the guise of a vacation, Mary, of the same background as the Brandolini family (brought up in South Philly, attended parochial school, parents still live in the same small house in which she grew up, never traveled far from home,) takes her first plane trip. She flies to Montana to see what she can learn about Amadeo. She meets the wife of the camp commandant who remembers Brandolini, and identifies another inmate who had befriended him all those years ago. Despite threats and physical violence, Mary pursues the case to a satisfactory conclusion. Scottoline wrote this book after she discovered that her grandparents had to register as enemy aliens during World War II, despite the fact that they had lived in the US for 30 years and their son, Scottoline's father, was currently serving in the US armed forces. That was a time of suspicion, much like today. My father-in-law, born in the US but educated in Italy, was taken off a train between the US and Canada until he proved his place of birth and citizenship. Scottoline has taken a period in US history of which we should be ashamed and made it fresh. This is a not-to-be missed book for anyone interested in our actions on the home front during World War II.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, August 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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