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Where She Has Gone
Vittorio Innocente, a Canadian born in Italy, experiences a moment of disturbing connection with his half-sister after their father's death, and follows Rita to Italy to uncover their family's secrets
325 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
2 people are currently reading
228 people want to read
About the author
Nino Ricci
15 books68 followersNino Ricci’s first novel was the internationally acclaimed Lives of the Saints. It spent 75 weeks on the Globe and Mail‘s bestseller list and was the winner of the F.G. Bressani Prize, the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. In England it won Betty Trask Award and Winnifred Holtby Prize, in the U.S. was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and in France was an Oiel de la lettre Selection of the National Libraries Association.
Published in seventeen countries, Lives of the Saints was the first volume of a trilogy that continued with In a Glass House, hailed as a “genuine achievement” by The New York Times, and Where She Has Gone, nominated for the Giller Prize. The Lives of the Saints trilogy was adapted for a television miniseries starring Sophia Loren and Kris Kristofferson.
Books in Canada commented that Ricci’s trilogy “so amply demonstrates the author’s tremendous talents that we would be foolish as readers not to follow him down whatever road he next chooses to follow.” That road led him to Testament, a fictional retelling of the life of Jesus. Hailed as a “masterpiece” by Saturday Night, Testament was a Booklist Choice for the Top Ten Historical Novels of the Year and a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Prize and for the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Award for Fiction and was a winner of the Trillium Award.
Ricci’s national bestseller The Origin of Species earned him the Canadian Authors Association Fiction Award as well as his second Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Set in Montreal in 1980s, the novel casts a Darwinian eye on the life of Alex Fratarcangeli, who is torn between his baser impulses and his pursuit of the Good. “This novel does so well, on so many levels,” wrote the Toronto Star, “that it’s hard to know where to begin tallying up the riches.”
Ricci is also the author of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a short biography that forms part of Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians series, edited by John Ralston Saul. Ricci’s biography, according to HistoryWire, “provides the best, and best written, perspective on Trudeau there is.”
Ricci's newest novel is Sleep, out in the fall of 2015.
Published in seventeen countries, Lives of the Saints was the first volume of a trilogy that continued with In a Glass House, hailed as a “genuine achievement” by The New York Times, and Where She Has Gone, nominated for the Giller Prize. The Lives of the Saints trilogy was adapted for a television miniseries starring Sophia Loren and Kris Kristofferson.
Books in Canada commented that Ricci’s trilogy “so amply demonstrates the author’s tremendous talents that we would be foolish as readers not to follow him down whatever road he next chooses to follow.” That road led him to Testament, a fictional retelling of the life of Jesus. Hailed as a “masterpiece” by Saturday Night, Testament was a Booklist Choice for the Top Ten Historical Novels of the Year and a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Prize and for the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Award for Fiction and was a winner of the Trillium Award.
Ricci’s national bestseller The Origin of Species earned him the Canadian Authors Association Fiction Award as well as his second Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Set in Montreal in 1980s, the novel casts a Darwinian eye on the life of Alex Fratarcangeli, who is torn between his baser impulses and his pursuit of the Good. “This novel does so well, on so many levels,” wrote the Toronto Star, “that it’s hard to know where to begin tallying up the riches.”
Ricci is also the author of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a short biography that forms part of Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians series, edited by John Ralston Saul. Ricci’s biography, according to HistoryWire, “provides the best, and best written, perspective on Trudeau there is.”
Ricci's newest novel is Sleep, out in the fall of 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 2, 2009
I have clicked four stars, but to me, this final book in The Lives of the Saints trilogy deserves 3 ½ stars. Where She Has Gone is better than In a Glass House, but not as good as the first, Lives of the Saints.
It took me a long time to read this book, especially during the sagging middle, where, once again, Nino Ricci resorted to repetitive usage of words or phrases. Worse, many of these were the very same as the ones I felt inundated with when reading In a Glass House. And the narrator was tentative about ‘seemingly’ (one of ‘those’ words) everything, except perhaps, for his obsession with his half-sister, Rita. And then Ricci chooses to take Rita out of the action for a while, which only served to drain the story of its energy, its momentum. I began to lose interest, to put the book down; considered skipping to the end to find out what happens instead of reading all 997 pages. But I persevered.
As I continued to read, it occurred to me that Ricci could have incorporated the content of In a Glass House into the final book, making Where She Has Gone a sequel to Lives of the Saints. The content of In a Glass House is integral to the story, but the narrative is far too long. Nino Ricci does have a story to tell, and I have great appreciation for his descriptive writing – especially of place, but also characterization, and the introspection that at times shone through the passive and depressed personality of Vittorio (now Victor).
In Where She Has Gone, Victor at one point returns to Italy, to the village where he was born. He meets up with Rita; attempts to discover the identity of Rita’s biological father; and he has a relationship with Luisa, who lives in the village. This latter inclusion came across as being contrived, to me; I felt ‘as if’ the author decided his story was lagging, needed padding with ‘something’ to give it more mystery.
But this isn’t a mystery story. It’s a story about an Italian-Canadian with identity issues, who manages to find his way out of ‘a sense of’ hopelessness towards ‘a sort of’ reconciliation with himself and his place in the world.
That Nino Ricci is a talented writer is indisputable. That you will want to read all three books in this trilogy is debatable. I would suggest that if you have the time, give it a go. If not, read the Lives of the Saints, then a synopsis of In a Glass House, and then read Where She Has Gone. But start with Lives of the Saints, for sure.
It took me a long time to read this book, especially during the sagging middle, where, once again, Nino Ricci resorted to repetitive usage of words or phrases. Worse, many of these were the very same as the ones I felt inundated with when reading In a Glass House. And the narrator was tentative about ‘seemingly’ (one of ‘those’ words) everything, except perhaps, for his obsession with his half-sister, Rita. And then Ricci chooses to take Rita out of the action for a while, which only served to drain the story of its energy, its momentum. I began to lose interest, to put the book down; considered skipping to the end to find out what happens instead of reading all 997 pages. But I persevered.
As I continued to read, it occurred to me that Ricci could have incorporated the content of In a Glass House into the final book, making Where She Has Gone a sequel to Lives of the Saints. The content of In a Glass House is integral to the story, but the narrative is far too long. Nino Ricci does have a story to tell, and I have great appreciation for his descriptive writing – especially of place, but also characterization, and the introspection that at times shone through the passive and depressed personality of Vittorio (now Victor).
In Where She Has Gone, Victor at one point returns to Italy, to the village where he was born. He meets up with Rita; attempts to discover the identity of Rita’s biological father; and he has a relationship with Luisa, who lives in the village. This latter inclusion came across as being contrived, to me; I felt ‘as if’ the author decided his story was lagging, needed padding with ‘something’ to give it more mystery.
But this isn’t a mystery story. It’s a story about an Italian-Canadian with identity issues, who manages to find his way out of ‘a sense of’ hopelessness towards ‘a sort of’ reconciliation with himself and his place in the world.
That Nino Ricci is a talented writer is indisputable. That you will want to read all three books in this trilogy is debatable. I would suggest that if you have the time, give it a go. If not, read the Lives of the Saints, then a synopsis of In a Glass House, and then read Where She Has Gone. But start with Lives of the Saints, for sure.
June 26, 2015
This is the final volume of the trilogy Ricci began, telling the story of Vittorio Vincente, a young six year old boy growing up in Valle del Sole a small mountain village in the Italian Apennines. His mother Christina, pregnant with another man’s child left the town for Canada where her husband awaited her. During the transatlantic crossing and in the midst of a terrible storm, she delivered a baby girl, but died during the process. As Vitto landed in Canada, a father he did not know awaited him, he had a newborn half sister and he faced life in a strange new country. So ended the first novel, “Lives of the Saints” (1990).
In the second novel “In A Glass House” (1993), Vitto now known by his Canadian name as Victor, grows up with his sister Rita on a large 30 acre farm in southern Ontario. But his father is haunted by Rita, the daughter who reminds him continually of his wife’s infidelity. He remains angry and absent most of the time and is consumed by the work on the farm. As Victor grows older and enters the angst of adolescence, Rita suffers from being ignored and forgotten by the others. Eventually her father allows her to be adopted by another family, and although Victor tries to maintain a relationship with his sister, its threads are tenuous and strained.
Victor attends university and then spends several years working in Nigeria but is brought home by the death of his father. The second book in the trilogy closes there, and in my view it is the weakest of the three. It is has on the whole, a very gloomy, sad tone and I felt disappointed after the first installment of the story.
As the third novel “Where She Has Gone” (1997) opens, we join Victor who is studying for his masters degree in Toronto. Rita has also started school there and is boarding with Elena her adopted sister. Victor and Rita are seeing each other more frequently, are developing some closeness and trying to re-establish their relationship, but they remain tentative and awkward with one another.
Rita decides to travel to Europe with her new friend, an older German man named John. Victor is concerned about John’s motives and is uneasy about their plans. After Rita leaves, Victor finds himself in a complete funk. When he receives a postcard from Rita, he decides to go to Europe too, hoping to piece together his family history by visiting his former home. Once in Valle del Sole, he is welcomed in the small village where it seems little has changed. He lives in the house his grandfather left him and experiences a rush of old memories. Things are at the same time foreign and familiar, as he meets and visits with aunts, uncles, cousins and a boyhood friend. He reminisces, looking for the truths about his past, but soon discovers that there is no definite past, just multiple versions of it locked in the minds of his friend and relatives. He finds his own memories that were once clear are now overladen with other people’s versions of it, or perhaps just by mere reality. The real story is forever lost to him.
This novel can be read as a “stand alone” volume, but the full impact of the story is only achieved by reading each book sequentially in the trilogy. In this case the whole is much greater than each single part. The prose is fluid, transporting the reader easily to different lands and times. Ricci has found a wonderful way to intertwine memory, loss and landscape in a powerful story.
A thoroughly enjoyable read.
In the second novel “In A Glass House” (1993), Vitto now known by his Canadian name as Victor, grows up with his sister Rita on a large 30 acre farm in southern Ontario. But his father is haunted by Rita, the daughter who reminds him continually of his wife’s infidelity. He remains angry and absent most of the time and is consumed by the work on the farm. As Victor grows older and enters the angst of adolescence, Rita suffers from being ignored and forgotten by the others. Eventually her father allows her to be adopted by another family, and although Victor tries to maintain a relationship with his sister, its threads are tenuous and strained.
Victor attends university and then spends several years working in Nigeria but is brought home by the death of his father. The second book in the trilogy closes there, and in my view it is the weakest of the three. It is has on the whole, a very gloomy, sad tone and I felt disappointed after the first installment of the story.
As the third novel “Where She Has Gone” (1997) opens, we join Victor who is studying for his masters degree in Toronto. Rita has also started school there and is boarding with Elena her adopted sister. Victor and Rita are seeing each other more frequently, are developing some closeness and trying to re-establish their relationship, but they remain tentative and awkward with one another.
Rita decides to travel to Europe with her new friend, an older German man named John. Victor is concerned about John’s motives and is uneasy about their plans. After Rita leaves, Victor finds himself in a complete funk. When he receives a postcard from Rita, he decides to go to Europe too, hoping to piece together his family history by visiting his former home. Once in Valle del Sole, he is welcomed in the small village where it seems little has changed. He lives in the house his grandfather left him and experiences a rush of old memories. Things are at the same time foreign and familiar, as he meets and visits with aunts, uncles, cousins and a boyhood friend. He reminisces, looking for the truths about his past, but soon discovers that there is no definite past, just multiple versions of it locked in the minds of his friend and relatives. He finds his own memories that were once clear are now overladen with other people’s versions of it, or perhaps just by mere reality. The real story is forever lost to him.
This novel can be read as a “stand alone” volume, but the full impact of the story is only achieved by reading each book sequentially in the trilogy. In this case the whole is much greater than each single part. The prose is fluid, transporting the reader easily to different lands and times. Ricci has found a wonderful way to intertwine memory, loss and landscape in a powerful story.
A thoroughly enjoyable read.
March 19, 2013
I remember slogging through this one grimly. I'm giving it two instead of one star only because I liked the beginning well enough and thought it seemed promising. It did not live up to the early promise and was sort of creepily sad but without much point. Also, and this irritated me greatly, I kept reading the title as "Where HAS She Gone?" instead of "Where SHE Has Gone."
November 6, 2023
I loved the first two books in this trilogy by a Canadian author. Setting: Southern Ontario and Italy. This one is really good too, but I had a hard time with it half way through to the end. It's not that I needed a happy ending, but I needed one that was not so disturbing. It just got so f*cked up. The author did a great job at developing his main character and presented the other characters from this main character's perspective (so they are developed through the eyes of the main character - not so bad, but then it lacks other perspectives in a way - like we never got to really know his sister and the other people - it's the way the author chose to develop his characters and it works - I just did not like it in the end - the relationship between the main character and his sister just got too warped and unhealthy and thus culminating in a disturbing end).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2018
I found this book to be the best one in the Vittorio Innocente trilogy. The first two books essentially paid off with this one. Where She Has Gone had the strongest forward momentum in the trilogy and had some shocking and unexpected twists in the plot. As in the previous two books, the author excelled at exploring the subtleties of human relationships and interactions. However, this book also included a fascinating exploration of memory: its importance to our self-image, its lack of reliability, and it's burden. Overall, I would recommend this book and the trilogy.
December 21, 2023
WHERE SHE HAS GONE is the final book of the LIVES OF THE SAINTS trilogy by Nino Ricci and it is as brilliantly written as the previous two if not more so. This one was also harder for me to put down. It was definitely my favourite, with the first book being my second favourite. I can see where a few readers wouldn’t pick up the third book because the second one brought them down, but if you make it to the end of the second, you must read the third, as it wraps up a lot of things, the main character has matured and it is so beautifully written.
June 15, 2025
I didn't know that this book was part of a trilogy, and I think it does ok as stand alone, but I definitely want to go and read the first 2 books in the trilogy.
This story really goes deep into the main characters inner thoughts, but the complete lack of the characters' ability to communicate with each other drove me crazy.
This story really goes deep into the main characters inner thoughts, but the complete lack of the characters' ability to communicate with each other drove me crazy.
December 26, 2018
An engaging book with a unique story but very depressing.
June 29, 2022
Weird!!! Difficult to get into and when you finally do, it gets even more strange. Very depressing
April 29, 2023
Morose. Strange. Sad. Difficult read. A choosing to live an empty life.
October 17, 2023
no point to it
June 25, 2010
Part three in a trilogy. This book continues the life of Vittorio Innocente, who, now as an adult, tries to find himself and further the connection between his grown-up half-sister and himself. This book further explains the past as Vittorio remembers it, but we are shown how memories are mostly a representation of what we wish to remember. Ricci's writing is astounding, and he really shows his writing skills in how past events from the other books are interlinked to conclude in a full circle.
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February 10, 2011If you are a person who does a lot of internal analysis of thoughts, feelings, and the human condition this book fits....I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I got the impression that there was some paranoia happening for the brother and there was definitely some incest happening with the justification that they were not true brother and sister...wanting a more intimate relationship between man and woman not brother and sister...lots of family history. Just what I like to read....human relations.
I got the impression that there was some paranoia happening for the brother and there was definitely some incest happening with the justification that they were not true brother and sister...wanting a more intimate relationship between man and woman not brother and sister...lots of family history. Just what I like to read....human relations.
September 22, 2014
Finally, the end of the trilogy. Actually a good story, but depressing due to the self doubt of Vittorio and Elena (lesbian) and adopted sister of Rita, Vittorio's half sister. Was she traveling with her real father, John - who, if so,n never told her about her mother? Nobody told Rita anything about her rooots. Victor seemed better off in Africa than in his home in Italy. Lots to think about, but nothing happy ever happened to the characters.
October 30, 2011
I agree that the author vividly describes the sights and sounds of the scenery (to the point of boredom), but the characters are just shadows and the relationship between the siblings is uncomfortable. I was hoping the slow story telling and attention to detail would have some pay off with a great ending, but I was very disappointed.
September 24, 2012
This is the third book in the Trilogy by Nino Ricci - taking us back full circle to Italy in the end - to find out the answers to the big question in the first two books. Book two and three focused mainly on the sibblings, their short incestuous relationship, and their ultimate love and desire to find out answers to what made their family so fractured.
August 6, 2015
This is the final book in the trilogy (Lives of the Saints). This book continues with the life of Vittorio as an adult in Toronto and his sister, Rita. I would have to say that I enjoyed the second book the most. I felt I wanted more from this one.
Overall an enjoyable series from a Canadian author.
Overall an enjoyable series from a Canadian author.
June 12, 2015
I picked up this book for $2 so thankfully it did not cost me a lot. It was just a so-so read. I had watched the movie several years ago called "Lives of The Saints" starring Sophia Loren which was based on the book of the same name by this author. I found the movie very very good. However this book was not as interesting as the movie, so I was quite disappointed.
February 2, 2016
THis is my first of this trilogy, and it can stand alone.
In the final installment of Nino Ricci's acclaimed Vittorio Innocente trilogy, we find Ricci's hero Vittorio strangely drawn to his half-sister Rita. After a disturbing moment between them, he realizes that what he's been searching for is not just his sister 14it's their shared history and secret...
In the final installment of Nino Ricci's acclaimed Vittorio Innocente trilogy, we find Ricci's hero Vittorio strangely drawn to his half-sister Rita. After a disturbing moment between them, he realizes that what he's been searching for is not just his sister 14it's their shared history and secret...
March 31, 2015
Rita is accurately undeveloped because she's always been a tool of self-discovery for the protagonist - was this on purpose, or just a lucky accident? Regardless, what's not an accident is Ricci's exploration of shame via incest, which he's done perfectly
March 12, 2008
this book as with the other two have stuck with me....haunting, simple, subtle....
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July 8, 2009Left me pensive for more than a week...
November 4, 2013
This 3rd of a trilogy sustained the lyrical beauty and characterization of the previous two. Very satisfying.
April 22, 2017
I quite liked this book. Picked it up at a bed and breakfast in Fergus; where you take one book and leave one behind. Started reading it that night and couldn't put it down. A story about family secrets, personal struggles in dealing with one's past and regrets. A sombre read for sure. I kept wanting to know more about the characters but they were always in the shadows. The description of the various landscapes from Toronto to Italy to London to Nigeria is beautiful, like you are there with Vittorio. I didn't like the ending as I wanted some of the loose ends to be revealed a bit more. May try to read more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews