Lives of the Saints

What really happened to Vittorio's mother that day in the stable? That she'd been bitten by a snake was clear enough: the swelling in her ankle proved it. But that other swelling, the one that led eventually to his mother's long, loose dresses, to those dark, cold stares from the other villagers - what strange thing could be taking shape in his mother's belly, and what doom could it carry them to?

 Set in Valle del Sole, a tiny village nestled in the folds of the Italian Appenines like a world forgotten, Lives of the Saints tells the story of Vittorio Innocente and his mother, Christina, whose affair with a blue-eyed stranger shatters  the innocence of Vittorio's childhood. As he pieces together the story of his mother's 'crime,' Vittorio discovers also the truths of the villagers and the village, and gains a new understanding of human nature. For the tiny Italian village of Valle del Sole harbours century-old superstitions, fears, maliciousness, hypocrisy and a pagan past. The villagers' apparent Catholicism is no more than a mask to hide behind and a self-righteousness that harms Vittorio and his mother.

 Lives of the Saints won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Governor General's Award for Fiction.