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The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia
One unidentified skeleton. Three missing men. A village full of secrets. The bestselling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna brings us a sparkling—by turns funny and moving—novel about a young American woman turned amateur detective in a small village in Southern Italy.
Calabria, 1960. Francesca Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there’s no mail, either.
Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don’t the police come and investigate? When an old woman begs Francesca to help determine if the remains are those of her long-missing son, Francesca begins to ask a lot of inconvenient questions. As an outsider, she might be the only person who can uncover the truth. Or she might be getting in over her head. As she attempts to juggle a nosy landlady, a suspiciously dashing shepherd, and a network of local families bound together by a code of silence, Francesca finds herself forced to choose between the charitable mission that brought her to Santa Chionia, and her future happiness, between truth and survival.
Set in the wild heart of Calabria, a land of sheer cliff faces, ancient tradition, dazzling sunlight—and one of the world’s most ruthless criminal syndicates—The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a suspenseful puzzle mystery, a captivating romance, and an affecting portrait of a young woman in search of a meaningful life.
Calabria, 1960. Francesca Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there’s no mail, either.
Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don’t the police come and investigate? When an old woman begs Francesca to help determine if the remains are those of her long-missing son, Francesca begins to ask a lot of inconvenient questions. As an outsider, she might be the only person who can uncover the truth. Or she might be getting in over her head. As she attempts to juggle a nosy landlady, a suspiciously dashing shepherd, and a network of local families bound together by a code of silence, Francesca finds herself forced to choose between the charitable mission that brought her to Santa Chionia, and her future happiness, between truth and survival.
Set in the wild heart of Calabria, a land of sheer cliff faces, ancient tradition, dazzling sunlight—and one of the world’s most ruthless criminal syndicates—The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a suspenseful puzzle mystery, a captivating romance, and an affecting portrait of a young woman in search of a meaningful life.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 23, 2024
186 people are currently reading
10950 people want to read
About the author
Juliet Grames
3 books487 followersI'm a writer and long-time book editor. I use my Goodreads account as a catalog of books I've edited.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 243 reviews
June 24, 2024
An extraordinary house built of the highest quality material but missing plumbing and electricity
Helplessly original and a wonder, this book has violently captured my thoughts since its completion.
Grames has pulled off a remarkable feat—she has created a brilliant world, ripe with intriguing history and complex characters.
The story is set in rural 1960’s Italy in a seemingly charming village where the main character, Francesca, is a fly caught in an intricate web of connectivity—all of the villagers are, at the very least, loosely associated with each other, often tied together by glittering, secret history.
This delightful world and its characters have whispered to my imagination, and this is a book that I feel compelled to talk about.
It has some dazzling, startlingly real characters who at times can seem harsh yet warm.
Now, let’s talk very briefly about 2 other books with great worldbuilding: Gone with the Wind and Game of Thrones.
What do these epics have in common?
They are L-O-N-G!
Looking at Audible, GWTW is just over 49 hours and GOT is nearly 35 hours.
The problem is……….most books over 500 pages aren’t highly marketable.
So The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a hair over 400 pages, resulting in irrecoverable sacrifices.
It has three rocky plots: Francesca struggling to open a nursery (a preschool), a love triangle, and a murder mystery.
As far as the nursery, Francesca’s (and therefore the reader’s) connection to the village’s children is too generic. She doesn’t form a deep connection with specific children, so it is difficult to feel invested in this plotline. The stakes didn’t seem high enough.
The love triangle is also underdeveloped, bumbling and clumsy, with Francesca appearing to casually make random, contradictory, and bizarre decisions.
And the murder mystery….The ending was not satisfying, and the reader leaves with more questions than in the beginning.
There are also about a billion characters, and the book needs a family map like in A Suitable Boy. I would imagine the audiobook experience to be torturous.
This book haunts me, a tragedy, because it is bursting with potential—so thick are the rays of brilliance that they are actually visible! The author is clearly promising, and The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia unmistakably has many great things going for it. But the execution just isn’t there yet.
*Thanks, NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Electronic Text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
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Helplessly original and a wonder, this book has violently captured my thoughts since its completion.
Grames has pulled off a remarkable feat—she has created a brilliant world, ripe with intriguing history and complex characters.
The story is set in rural 1960’s Italy in a seemingly charming village where the main character, Francesca, is a fly caught in an intricate web of connectivity—all of the villagers are, at the very least, loosely associated with each other, often tied together by glittering, secret history.
This delightful world and its characters have whispered to my imagination, and this is a book that I feel compelled to talk about.
It has some dazzling, startlingly real characters who at times can seem harsh yet warm.
Now, let’s talk very briefly about 2 other books with great worldbuilding: Gone with the Wind and Game of Thrones.
What do these epics have in common?
They are L-O-N-G!
Looking at Audible, GWTW is just over 49 hours and GOT is nearly 35 hours.
The problem is……….most books over 500 pages aren’t highly marketable.
So The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a hair over 400 pages, resulting in irrecoverable sacrifices.
It has three rocky plots: Francesca struggling to open a nursery (a preschool), a love triangle, and a murder mystery.
As far as the nursery, Francesca’s (and therefore the reader’s) connection to the village’s children is too generic. She doesn’t form a deep connection with specific children, so it is difficult to feel invested in this plotline. The stakes didn’t seem high enough.
The love triangle is also underdeveloped, bumbling and clumsy, with Francesca appearing to casually make random, contradictory, and bizarre decisions.
And the murder mystery….The ending was not satisfying, and the reader leaves with more questions than in the beginning.
There are also about a billion characters, and the book needs a family map like in A Suitable Boy. I would imagine the audiobook experience to be torturous.
This book haunts me, a tragedy, because it is bursting with potential—so thick are the rays of brilliance that they are actually visible! The author is clearly promising, and The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia unmistakably has many great things going for it. But the execution just isn’t there yet.
*Thanks, NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Electronic Text – Free/Nada/Zilch through NetGalley provided by publisher
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
August 18, 2024
3.5⭐️
Set in the remote South Calabrian village of Santa Chionia in 1960, The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames. follows twenty-seven-year-old American (of Calabrian and Norwegian descent), Francesca Loftfield, and the time she spent in the village in her efforts to open a nursery school funded by an international charity. Francesca estranged from her husband after a personal loss, is an educated, idealistic young woman who, despite having led a sheltered life, is motivated to take the assignment in the remote rustic village. Her job entails opening a nursery school and enrolling thirty-six pupils while also recruiting suitable candidates as teachers from the local community - not an easy task, trying to have her voice heard among those in a tight-knit community with their set ways. Complicating matters further is the fact that a human skeleton was recently discovered under the rubble of the old post office after flooding and Francesca is approached by two women, each of whom believes that the bones belong to one of their own. Francesca, in her pursuit of the identity of the deceased, finds herself getting more deeply involved in the affairs of the community than she had anticipated, ultimately risking the completion of her original mission and her very own survival.
There is a lot about The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames that is praiseworthy. The author writes beautifully, with a keen sense of time and place. The narrative is presented from the perspective of loving the atmospheric setting of Santa Chionia and the vivid descriptions of the landscape and depiction of the community and their way of life. I appreciated the complex plot and found the premise of this novel truly intriguing. The obstacles Francesca faces in her quest for the truth are convincing and evidenced thoroughly through how the author describes the power dynamics within the community, local political rivalry, deep-buried secrets and their own code of justice and how the community chooses to resolve conflict. The mystery angle was well - crafted and the tension was palpable as the narrative progressed.
However, the novel is unnecessarily lengthy and the pacing is uneven, with too many characters in the mix. Halfway through, I was struggling to remember how each of the characters was related to the other. Several secondary characters are well thought out, but I found it difficult to connect with Francesca. Francesca’s past is revealed through flashbacks and the narrative is shared through her first-person POV, giving us a glimpse into her innermost thoughts and emotions. However, I felt that her character could have been explored in more depth, especially in light of her reaction to the plight of the women and children in the Santa Chionia community and her personal choices. Though I was concerned for her well-being, I did find her a tad too gullible and trusting and thought that she would have made smarter choices, especially in the latter half of the story. The romance track felt contrived and I was left with a few unanswered questions at the end.
Overall, though I didn't dislike this novel in its entirety, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had expected.
Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel was published on July 23, 2024.
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Set in the remote South Calabrian village of Santa Chionia in 1960, The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames. follows twenty-seven-year-old American (of Calabrian and Norwegian descent), Francesca Loftfield, and the time she spent in the village in her efforts to open a nursery school funded by an international charity. Francesca estranged from her husband after a personal loss, is an educated, idealistic young woman who, despite having led a sheltered life, is motivated to take the assignment in the remote rustic village. Her job entails opening a nursery school and enrolling thirty-six pupils while also recruiting suitable candidates as teachers from the local community - not an easy task, trying to have her voice heard among those in a tight-knit community with their set ways. Complicating matters further is the fact that a human skeleton was recently discovered under the rubble of the old post office after flooding and Francesca is approached by two women, each of whom believes that the bones belong to one of their own. Francesca, in her pursuit of the identity of the deceased, finds herself getting more deeply involved in the affairs of the community than she had anticipated, ultimately risking the completion of her original mission and her very own survival.
There is a lot about The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Grames that is praiseworthy. The author writes beautifully, with a keen sense of time and place. The narrative is presented from the perspective of loving the atmospheric setting of Santa Chionia and the vivid descriptions of the landscape and depiction of the community and their way of life. I appreciated the complex plot and found the premise of this novel truly intriguing. The obstacles Francesca faces in her quest for the truth are convincing and evidenced thoroughly through how the author describes the power dynamics within the community, local political rivalry, deep-buried secrets and their own code of justice and how the community chooses to resolve conflict. The mystery angle was well - crafted and the tension was palpable as the narrative progressed.
However, the novel is unnecessarily lengthy and the pacing is uneven, with too many characters in the mix. Halfway through, I was struggling to remember how each of the characters was related to the other. Several secondary characters are well thought out, but I found it difficult to connect with Francesca. Francesca’s past is revealed through flashbacks and the narrative is shared through her first-person POV, giving us a glimpse into her innermost thoughts and emotions. However, I felt that her character could have been explored in more depth, especially in light of her reaction to the plight of the women and children in the Santa Chionia community and her personal choices. Though I was concerned for her well-being, I did find her a tad too gullible and trusting and thought that she would have made smarter choices, especially in the latter half of the story. The romance track felt contrived and I was left with a few unanswered questions at the end.
Overall, though I didn't dislike this novel in its entirety, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had expected.
Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel was published on July 23, 2024.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
May 22, 2024
I won this book a a part of the Goodreads Giveaways. I am a sucker for mystery novels and historical fiction, entering to win this book was a no brainer for me.
Once I started the novel, it became obvious that the author did not have an ending determined when writing this. The plot is incredibly buried and lacking. As someone who is heavy into annotating books, this one I could hardly decipher where the plot points were meant to be. It was several stories all muddled together and tangled with little real connection between them. There was also no true ending, it left off as if the author was going to continue this into a series, though it is advertised as a novel.
So if a confusing, over cooked novel with no ending is what you're looking for, then this may just be the book for you.
Once I started the novel, it became obvious that the author did not have an ending determined when writing this. The plot is incredibly buried and lacking. As someone who is heavy into annotating books, this one I could hardly decipher where the plot points were meant to be. It was several stories all muddled together and tangled with little real connection between them. There was also no true ending, it left off as if the author was going to continue this into a series, though it is advertised as a novel.
So if a confusing, over cooked novel with no ending is what you're looking for, then this may just be the book for you.
September 25, 2024
This is really good — as storytelling it’s absolutely top shelf and as world building it’s miraculous; a relatively obscure region comes alive. The obscurity of the town’s corruption is reminiscent of Sciascia, but this is also a romance — in fact I’d say that is the book’s chief identity, albeit discreetly. A genuinely enjoyable read.
July 27, 2024
I just really did not enjoy this. I feel like it took me 10 years to read. And the ending was not worth the time it took to get to.
July 11, 2024
The lost boy of Santa Chionia by Juliet Greames is a book about Francis who in the 1960s goes to Santa Choinia to start a preschool and help mothers in that isolated village learn better ways to take care of their children and their entire family. She arrives during the October rains and during the rain fall the post office is knockdown and a body is discovered something the locals are fine with talking about but doesn’t waste much time pondering over. I would really love to say I totally enjoyed this book but I absolutely did not. I read many many books and have no issues reading and comprehending and although sometimes I do run across a word I am not familiar with this is what makes the dictionary so handy but in this book there were so many times I had to stop and look up a word and it just happened to often for me to enjoy it. Not to mention all the locals in their names I found she went off into other stories and I lost the narrative I’m sure someone like this book but I must be honest and say I totally absolutely did not like it I usually can find something positive to say about a book but sadly not with this one. I was really looking forward to reading it, thankfully I have many other books that I can choose from. I will say in the beginning I was so into the story but around chapter 15 or 16 it just started losing me. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
January 28, 2025
Francesca Loftfeld's part of the story in this 3-fer, is set in the 1960's and it is her voice a reader hears the most. She is an outsider to Santa Chionia a fictional village isolated and tightly bound by ancient dna and political/local infrastructure that predates nations, it seems. She has a mission based on facts of an earlier generation that she works through rather clumsily, at high cost to some.
There are many mysteries within the tales this village offers up to visitors, and the read is twisty. Descriptions of the countryside are transporting, but for this reader the limitations build up to a calculation of nothing less than claustrophobic creating its own kind of tension.
What is the third part? a romance of course. . .fun to follow, but it never clears away the story's overarching dark clouds of distrust.
*A sincere thank you to Juliet Grames, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #TheLostBoyofSantaChionia #NetGalley 25| 52:43a
There are many mysteries within the tales this village offers up to visitors, and the read is twisty. Descriptions of the countryside are transporting, but for this reader the limitations build up to a calculation of nothing less than claustrophobic creating its own kind of tension.
What is the third part? a romance of course. . .fun to follow, but it never clears away the story's overarching dark clouds of distrust.
*A sincere thank you to Juliet Grames, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #TheLostBoyofSantaChionia #NetGalley 25| 52:43a
July 9, 2024
Initially, the author drew me in with great descriptive writing. That changed as the author muddled together stories that didn’t join together. There were so many characters I was loosing track of who was who. The story would move at times and then slow down to the point of boredom. The ending was a huge disappointment, and I felt cheated at spending my time reading the book.
My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions are my own.
My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions are my own.
November 29, 2024
I have been in a book slump and I was SO hopeful that this one would pull me out of it! But alas. Here’s what this book has going for it: immersive setting and sense of place. I feel like I, like the protagonist, have spent months in this tiny Italian village in the Calabrian mountains. This author knows her stuff clearly- and her descriptions of characters and details consistently amazed me. If she ever writes a nonfiction history of this part of the world I would enjoy reading it. However as fiction, the story itself falls apart. Our main character is naive, meddling, and annoying. She doesn’t know what she wants or what she’s doing and so we don’t either. The supposed mystery is so convoluted with so many characters with similarly sounding names that it was impossible to follow (it also never really concluded!?) And don’t even get me started on the abysmal love triangle. A miss for me, but at least I finished this one…. Y’all got any recs for me? My 2024 reading challenge is looking unattainable at the moment.
July 11, 2024
Set in 1960s Calabria, a young woman sent to set up a preschool program stumbles upon town secrets when a skeleton is discovered after a flood. I loved the setting of this story - the town, the mountains, the quirky customs, and the landlady Cicca! However, the mystery part was almost non existent. The story meandered quite a bit in the middle and at times tried to cover too many things. I will absolutely read more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book!
Want to read
July 23, 2024This looks soooooo good, you guys. 😍
July 30, 2024
This was captivating! The sense of place and the interesting cast of characters made this so very enthralling.
September 6, 2024
An engaging read about being alone in a beautiful place that time has forgot along with everyone else. But it's a dangerous place where one needs to know her place. That Girl meets the Godfather.
It's 1960 in a remote Calabrian mountaintop village. Idealistic and direct 27 yo Italian American woman, Francesca, has been hired to establish a nursery/prekindergarten Headstart program by an international charity. Talk about a clash of civilizations. It's isolated, illiterate, and insular. They don't even speak Italian but a type of Greek.She soon unknowingly becomes a pawn between competing interests over the village's future. She imagines herself a problem solver and facilitator while sleuthing into missing men when a body is found under the post office after flood damage. But it's all a Greek tragedy. I am sure many Peace Corps Volunteers could share similar tales.
It's 1960 in a remote Calabrian mountaintop village. Idealistic and direct 27 yo Italian American woman, Francesca, has been hired to establish a nursery/prekindergarten Headstart program by an international charity. Talk about a clash of civilizations. It's isolated, illiterate, and insular. They don't even speak Italian but a type of Greek.She soon unknowingly becomes a pawn between competing interests over the village's future. She imagines herself a problem solver and facilitator while sleuthing into missing men when a body is found under the post office after flood damage. But it's all a Greek tragedy. I am sure many Peace Corps Volunteers could share similar tales.
May 15, 2024
1960 in a very remote mountain village in Calabria Italy a young American woman tries to do some good by opening a nursery school. As an outsider she is met with distrust and struggles with outdated ideas of early education, poor health standards and the difficulty of obtaining supplies. When a body is unearthed she is eager to help and befriends a couple of the local women who need answers. Red tape, stepping on local male toes and clearly getting involved in something she shouldn't may get her and her hopes for the nursery in deep trouble. Historical fiction with a side of mystery and muddy politics that will have fans of Lisa Scottoline's ETERNAL and LOYALTY and the author's first book completely immersed. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
February 19, 2024
Francesca Loftfield arrives in the isolated Italian village of Santa Chionia, chomping at the bit to create the nursery school she's been trained to build by a British entity. It's 1960, and the goal is to raise a generation of literate children in an area that has never had a school. She's prepared for a village clinging to a mountain side with no electricity or running water. She's not prepared for massive flooding that will wash out the only bridge connecting Santa Chionia to anything, or that her mission will be derailed by the discovery of a child's body when the flood waters recede.
Soon, Franca is fully embroiled in questions about the skeleton, asked by various villagers because, as an outsider, she can ask these questions. Or can she? Franca finds a surprising collaborator in her cranky landlady and the two of them ask those questions and incur rancor on all sides.
As a "fish out of water," the young American will make you cringe with embarrassment as she runs roughshod over traditions and beliefs, certain that she knows better. She delves into the men who've gone to America, and often vanished. Her sense of superiority is irritating, but the moments when she connects with people in her town are delightful.
Juliet Grames' world building is complete and entrancing, especially when we realize that such a town as Santa Chionia can no longer exist, at least in that form. This novel lacks the shock factor that made "Stella Fortuna" so unforgettable. Still this is a appealing look at a time, place, and attitude that will carry you along to the end of the tale.
Soon, Franca is fully embroiled in questions about the skeleton, asked by various villagers because, as an outsider, she can ask these questions. Or can she? Franca finds a surprising collaborator in her cranky landlady and the two of them ask those questions and incur rancor on all sides.
As a "fish out of water," the young American will make you cringe with embarrassment as she runs roughshod over traditions and beliefs, certain that she knows better. She delves into the men who've gone to America, and often vanished. Her sense of superiority is irritating, but the moments when she connects with people in her town are delightful.
Juliet Grames' world building is complete and entrancing, especially when we realize that such a town as Santa Chionia can no longer exist, at least in that form. This novel lacks the shock factor that made "Stella Fortuna" so unforgettable. Still this is a appealing look at a time, place, and attitude that will carry you along to the end of the tale.
July 5, 2024
It's difficult to say which is more depressing, the corruption of the village or the naivete of the narrator. I'm inclined to say it's the latter. The narrator presents herself to us as a woman of experience and at least some discernment and maturity, not a doe-eyed innocent, so you can't help thinking she should have known better than to go blundering around making life worse for people. She does share the occasional wise thought on how tough it is to help people in dire need without inadvertently doing some damage, but these just don't translate all that well to the actual story. Also, the love triangle nearly gave me whiplash! On the plus side, though, there's some very strong descriptive writing.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
August 10, 2024
4.5
Engrossing, complicated mystery that even after finishing the book, I have questions. Does this mean there's a sequel?
The reader is submerged in the culture of Santa Chionia, Italy where the Catholic Church and a mafia-like group control the life of the city's population. Most of the people choose to just live with the status quo having seen what happens to those who try to fight it.
Engrossing, complicated mystery that even after finishing the book, I have questions. Does this mean there's a sequel?
The reader is submerged in the culture of Santa Chionia, Italy where the Catholic Church and a mafia-like group control the life of the city's population. Most of the people choose to just live with the status quo having seen what happens to those who try to fight it.
September 13, 2024
This was fantastic. Incredibly well written, which is why it took me so long to read. I found myself frequently looking up new vocabulary and researching the history and culture of Calabria. I learned a lot, felt a lot, and related a lot to the main character.
I felt the outcome of the whole book was very realistic, which I enjoyed.
I felt the outcome of the whole book was very realistic, which I enjoyed.
March 3, 2024
Two stars seems too harsh but I’m not sure I wanted to give this three stars. It’s a convoluted and complex story chasing too many story lines for an unimpressive conclusion.
May 29, 2024
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Calabria, 1960. A remote backward village full of secrets, bound by customs and family ties "Francesca [Franca, who many call maestra] Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed [idealistic] American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there’s no mail." Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don’t the police come and investigate? When an old woman begs Francesca to help determine if the remains are those of her long-missing son, Francesca begins to ask a lot of inconvenient questions." And so it begins.
Francesca is determined to find out who the body is and why things are the way they are in this village [extremely patriarchal and traditional], but also to bring preschool education to this backwater. Add in corruption, many more characters: including a priest, a doctor [from afar] a mailman from the next town, a communist, a mayor, and more--there are so very many characters/families/member and moving parts that I sometimes found it hard to keep track. For Francesca, the outsider, the language also was a barrier--fluent in Italian, but dialect, and sometimes Greco.
Add in Franca's back story--her parents, her friends, and her Italian husband, Sandro, and it gets more complex. Then add in Ugo, a local love interest--oh my!
Franca lives with Cicca, her cranky landlady [who I found endearing] and--who communicates with her dead sister, Peppinedda.
Convoluted and perhaps unnecessarily complicated, nonetheless, I found this book often charming.
Phrases/descriptions I liked:
"I turned my Amercian dentistry on each of the men"
"I felt the menace of his physicality"
"twitching with energy"
"none of the eggplant silhouette one becomes accustomed to in priests"
"arresting quality of sloping bosom"
"man with gray hairs that draped like roof tiles over his ears"
New words for me:
nepenthe
kwashiorkor
ferule
No spoiler but I did not care for the ending.
I wanted to read this book as it sounded interesting and I was going to Calabria for 5 days [60+ years afterwards]--but the description of Pizzo still fit the picture!
3.5, cannot round up.
Calabria, 1960. A remote backward village full of secrets, bound by customs and family ties "Francesca [Franca, who many call maestra] Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed [idealistic] American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there’s no mail." Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don’t the police come and investigate? When an old woman begs Francesca to help determine if the remains are those of her long-missing son, Francesca begins to ask a lot of inconvenient questions." And so it begins.
Francesca is determined to find out who the body is and why things are the way they are in this village [extremely patriarchal and traditional], but also to bring preschool education to this backwater. Add in corruption, many more characters: including a priest, a doctor [from afar] a mailman from the next town, a communist, a mayor, and more--there are so very many characters/families/member and moving parts that I sometimes found it hard to keep track. For Francesca, the outsider, the language also was a barrier--fluent in Italian, but dialect, and sometimes Greco.
Add in Franca's back story--her parents, her friends, and her Italian husband, Sandro, and it gets more complex. Then add in Ugo, a local love interest--oh my!
Franca lives with Cicca, her cranky landlady [who I found endearing] and--who communicates with her dead sister, Peppinedda.
Convoluted and perhaps unnecessarily complicated, nonetheless, I found this book often charming.
Phrases/descriptions I liked:
"I turned my Amercian dentistry on each of the men"
"I felt the menace of his physicality"
"twitching with energy"
"none of the eggplant silhouette one becomes accustomed to in priests"
"arresting quality of sloping bosom"
"man with gray hairs that draped like roof tiles over his ears"
New words for me:
nepenthe
kwashiorkor
ferule
No spoiler but I did not care for the ending.
I wanted to read this book as it sounded interesting and I was going to Calabria for 5 days [60+ years afterwards]--but the description of Pizzo still fit the picture!
3.5, cannot round up.
July 19, 2024
“Life in Santa Chionia had always been lived on the edge of the abyss. The beauty of it lulls you to the fact that any step you take might be a fatal one.”
Our narrator, Francesca, is a witty and progressive American, transplanted to a small Calabrian mountain town to open a nursery school for a charity. Not long after she arrives, a skeleton turns up, and as Francesca becomes entangled in all the possible explanations for this gruesome discovery, she also finds herself caught in a complex web of crime and politics. It’s more literary fiction than mystery, although there is quite a bit of mystery, too.
I could tell as soon as I started that it was going to take me a long time to get through, and it was a slow start - I had no trouble putting it down until about ⅓ of the way in. It’s well written and clever, but a little dense, and it seemed to have a bigger vocabulary than the thrillers I usually read. Some of the word choice was just a little over the top (who describes a person as a “genialoid strategos” and what does that even mean?) and I eventually realized that several of the big, unfamiliar words were just made up - one word’s Wikipedia entry attributed it to Edward Lear - at which point I decided I would stop feeling stupid and just focus on the plot. Once I did that, it picked up - one mystery leads to another, and Francesca increasingly uncovers more and more of the villagers’ lies.
Towards the end of the story I started to wonder if it was really Francesca who was the stupid one, because she took way too long to figure out who was pulling the strings in Santa Chionia. She was the last one to get it. The ending answers a lot of questions, but none with certainty, as Francesca reflects on her experience and puts the pieces together.
Threaded into the story are social and political themes of privilege and oppression, tradition and change, insiders and outsiders. Maybe one of the reasons I’m seeing mixed reviews is because it’s a little too smart for us. I didn’t (and still don’t) know much about this region and time period, so it was a bit harder to keep track of names, events, and geography, but I found myself wanting to learn more of the history. If I were to read the book again, I would write down the connections between characters and try to keep track.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy, in exchange for an honest review.
Our narrator, Francesca, is a witty and progressive American, transplanted to a small Calabrian mountain town to open a nursery school for a charity. Not long after she arrives, a skeleton turns up, and as Francesca becomes entangled in all the possible explanations for this gruesome discovery, she also finds herself caught in a complex web of crime and politics. It’s more literary fiction than mystery, although there is quite a bit of mystery, too.
I could tell as soon as I started that it was going to take me a long time to get through, and it was a slow start - I had no trouble putting it down until about ⅓ of the way in. It’s well written and clever, but a little dense, and it seemed to have a bigger vocabulary than the thrillers I usually read. Some of the word choice was just a little over the top (who describes a person as a “genialoid strategos” and what does that even mean?) and I eventually realized that several of the big, unfamiliar words were just made up - one word’s Wikipedia entry attributed it to Edward Lear - at which point I decided I would stop feeling stupid and just focus on the plot. Once I did that, it picked up - one mystery leads to another, and Francesca increasingly uncovers more and more of the villagers’ lies.
Towards the end of the story I started to wonder if it was really Francesca who was the stupid one, because she took way too long to figure out who was pulling the strings in Santa Chionia. She was the last one to get it. The ending answers a lot of questions, but none with certainty, as Francesca reflects on her experience and puts the pieces together.
Threaded into the story are social and political themes of privilege and oppression, tradition and change, insiders and outsiders. Maybe one of the reasons I’m seeing mixed reviews is because it’s a little too smart for us. I didn’t (and still don’t) know much about this region and time period, so it was a bit harder to keep track of names, events, and geography, but I found myself wanting to learn more of the history. If I were to read the book again, I would write down the connections between characters and try to keep track.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy, in exchange for an honest review.
September 20, 2024
Juliet Grames’ The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a mesmerizing literary journey that I absolutely adored. From the very first page, I was captivated by the author’s exquisite writing, which beautifully transports readers to a small Italian village rich with charm and complexity.
Grames has an incredible gift for crafting multi-layered characters that feel genuine and relatable. Each character is intricately developed, contributing to the depth of the story and helping to create a vibrant, believable world. The interactions among the villagers are steeped in the nuances of small-town politics and personal relationships, making the setting feel alive. I found myself completely engrossed in the dynamics of village life, where every whisper and glance can carry significant weight.
The plot is infused with cultural richness and an air of mystery that the protagonist gets caught up in. Grames skillfully weaves together themes of belonging, identity, and the complexities of community, all while keeping the reader engaged with compelling twists and turns. I was genuinely surprised by the direction the story took, particularly the unexpected developments at the end. It’s a testament to Grames’ storytelling prowess that she can lead the reader on such an engaging journey, only to deliver a conclusion that feels both shocking and satisfying.
While the novel includes a number of foreign names and titles, which initially required a bit of adjustment on my part, this aspect also enhanced the immersion. The authenticity of the setting is palpable, and I appreciated how these details added to the sense of being in that picturesque village. It’s clear that Grames has done her research, and her attention to cultural nuances brings an added layer of depth to the narrative.
Her ability to blend rich character development with an engaging plot in a vivid setting makes this book a must-read. I’m excited to see what Grames will create next, as she has proven herself to be a fantastic author with a unique voice in contemporary literature.
Grames has an incredible gift for crafting multi-layered characters that feel genuine and relatable. Each character is intricately developed, contributing to the depth of the story and helping to create a vibrant, believable world. The interactions among the villagers are steeped in the nuances of small-town politics and personal relationships, making the setting feel alive. I found myself completely engrossed in the dynamics of village life, where every whisper and glance can carry significant weight.
The plot is infused with cultural richness and an air of mystery that the protagonist gets caught up in. Grames skillfully weaves together themes of belonging, identity, and the complexities of community, all while keeping the reader engaged with compelling twists and turns. I was genuinely surprised by the direction the story took, particularly the unexpected developments at the end. It’s a testament to Grames’ storytelling prowess that she can lead the reader on such an engaging journey, only to deliver a conclusion that feels both shocking and satisfying.
While the novel includes a number of foreign names and titles, which initially required a bit of adjustment on my part, this aspect also enhanced the immersion. The authenticity of the setting is palpable, and I appreciated how these details added to the sense of being in that picturesque village. It’s clear that Grames has done her research, and her attention to cultural nuances brings an added layer of depth to the narrative.
Her ability to blend rich character development with an engaging plot in a vivid setting makes this book a must-read. I’m excited to see what Grames will create next, as she has proven herself to be a fantastic author with a unique voice in contemporary literature.
September 19, 2024
I recently read the author's first book, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna and absolutely loved it so I couldn't wait to read this one. Like other reviewers of The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia, this one fell short of expectations for me, but I gave it 4 stars because 1) the mystery premise of a skeleton is unique and pulls you in, and 2) the cultural aspects of the book are accurate.
It's 1960 and Francesca Loftfield is an American who travels to Santa Chionia, Calabria region of Italy, after a failed marriage and to help a charity set up a nursery school in the remote mountain village. She's staying with a local woman, Cicca. Shortly after Francesca arrives, there's an epic flood and in the aftermath, a small skeleton washes up from the rubble of the Post Office. Maybe she didn't have enough to do, or maybe she's a classic nosy, interfering American, but Francesca decides to make it her mission to find out who this skeleton is. One woman believes it's her son Leo Romeo, who apparently emigrated to the U.S. years ago but was never heard from again, and another woman believes it's her missing husband Mico. I'll spare you all the names because there are way too many characters in this book to keep track of.
Most of the book is about Francesca trying to solve this mystery and it even reaches Philadelphia in the U.S., but it's not until the last few pages that we learn who Francesca thinks the skeleton belongs to. Again, like other reviewers, I found the ending disappointing and it took a long time to get there.
Here's what I liked: the cultural aspect, including the social norms and way of life; the premise of the mystery (who is this skeleton and why was it under the Post Office?). What I struggled with: the length of the book; the many characters and remembering the relationships; the way Francesca's thinking sometimes reflects 2024 instead of 1960; the ending felt rushed and wasn't satisfying.
It's 1960 and Francesca Loftfield is an American who travels to Santa Chionia, Calabria region of Italy, after a failed marriage and to help a charity set up a nursery school in the remote mountain village. She's staying with a local woman, Cicca. Shortly after Francesca arrives, there's an epic flood and in the aftermath, a small skeleton washes up from the rubble of the Post Office. Maybe she didn't have enough to do, or maybe she's a classic nosy, interfering American, but Francesca decides to make it her mission to find out who this skeleton is. One woman believes it's her son Leo Romeo, who apparently emigrated to the U.S. years ago but was never heard from again, and another woman believes it's her missing husband Mico. I'll spare you all the names because there are way too many characters in this book to keep track of.
Most of the book is about Francesca trying to solve this mystery and it even reaches Philadelphia in the U.S., but it's not until the last few pages that we learn who Francesca thinks the skeleton belongs to. Again, like other reviewers, I found the ending disappointing and it took a long time to get there.
Here's what I liked: the cultural aspect, including the social norms and way of life; the premise of the mystery (who is this skeleton and why was it under the Post Office?). What I struggled with: the length of the book; the many characters and remembering the relationships; the way Francesca's thinking sometimes reflects 2024 instead of 1960; the ending felt rushed and wasn't satisfying.
October 29, 2024
The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia has a three stranded plot: 1. Francesca is a young, idealistic American in the 1960's who works for an NGO trying to establish a nursery for pre-schoolers in the isolated Calabrian village of Santa Chionia - believable and well depicted but soon takes a backseat to strand#2; 2. A flood wipes out the post office revealing a skeleton, Francesca becomes embroiled in finding out whose bones these are, unearthing village secrets and drawing a picture of the village inhabitants and hierarchy - very complicated and over populated. 3. Handsome, sexy Ugo Squillaci, who has escaped rural Santa Chionia for the city, tries hard to establish a relationship with Francesca - the only problem is she's who's but not divorced from her Italian husband. The end was telegraphed from the first meeting of the lovers.
Plot strand #2 forms the heart of the book. Francesca's efforts to find the identity of the bones under the postoffice is a device to examine Calabrian history and to illustrate what many outsiders to this day believe to be a lawless, impoverished part of Italy. It was really interesting but I wish it hadn't gotten bogged down in the plethora of characters.
Overall though it's a decent mystery with believable characters - especially Cicca, Francesca's 70 year old land lady. I will remember the book for the provincial Santa Chionia and the explanation of the reasons for this kind of society.
Plot strand #2 forms the heart of the book. Francesca's efforts to find the identity of the bones under the postoffice is a device to examine Calabrian history and to illustrate what many outsiders to this day believe to be a lawless, impoverished part of Italy. It was really interesting but I wish it hadn't gotten bogged down in the plethora of characters.
Overall though it's a decent mystery with believable characters - especially Cicca, Francesca's 70 year old land lady. I will remember the book for the provincial Santa Chionia and the explanation of the reasons for this kind of society.
July 18, 2024
Thank you Netgalley & Knopf Publishing for an eARC ♥️
The story takes place in a small Italian village in the 1960s, where the main character Francesca starts a nursery school. The village is pretty old-fashioned, with no modern amenities.
When a flood reveals some human remains, Francesca gets involved in a mystery. She agrees to help some of the villagers find their missing loved ones, which gets complicated. The story has a lot of different plot threads, including Francesca's school and personal life.
I thought the characters were well-written, and the setting was interesting. However, I have to admit that it was a bit of a struggle to finish the book. The pace was slow in some parts, and I found my attention wandering. It took me a while to get through it, but I did want to see how the story resolved.
Unfortunately, the ending was a bit of a letdown. I won't give away any spoilers, but some plot threads were left dangling. It was a bit disappointing after investing so much time in the book.
The story takes place in a small Italian village in the 1960s, where the main character Francesca starts a nursery school. The village is pretty old-fashioned, with no modern amenities.
When a flood reveals some human remains, Francesca gets involved in a mystery. She agrees to help some of the villagers find their missing loved ones, which gets complicated. The story has a lot of different plot threads, including Francesca's school and personal life.
I thought the characters were well-written, and the setting was interesting. However, I have to admit that it was a bit of a struggle to finish the book. The pace was slow in some parts, and I found my attention wandering. It took me a while to get through it, but I did want to see how the story resolved.
Unfortunately, the ending was a bit of a letdown. I won't give away any spoilers, but some plot threads were left dangling. It was a bit disappointing after investing so much time in the book.
August 19, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, and Juliet Grames for an advanced copy of this book.
DNF. The premise of this book caught my attention and sounded promising. While I enjoyed the aspect of it being a mystery book written in the style of a fiction novel, I was struggling through the fiction part of it. The author has a nice writing style however the actual plot of the book was lacking for me. I think that I could read a fiction novel by this author, but this book lacked to keep my attention. I simply was bored.
DNF. The premise of this book caught my attention and sounded promising. While I enjoyed the aspect of it being a mystery book written in the style of a fiction novel, I was struggling through the fiction part of it. The author has a nice writing style however the actual plot of the book was lacking for me. I think that I could read a fiction novel by this author, but this book lacked to keep my attention. I simply was bored.
October 7, 2024
I really liked “The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia” by Juliet Grames, the story of a young social worker in 1960 who is posted to a remote Calabrian mountain village and who unwittingly becomes involved in the community’s secrets and deceptions. Infused with a moody, noirish tone and small witty observations, the book starts with bones found under a post office and eventually unravels the closed structure of an insular, isolated society. My only criticism would be that I had trouble keeping all the characters and their relationships straight, but to be fair, the main character (Francesca) did too.
I think this would make a wonderful tv series, in the mode of “Ripley” or “The Night Manager.”
I think this would make a wonderful tv series, in the mode of “Ripley” or “The Night Manager.”
December 1, 2024
Love that this doesn't fully romanticize rural or "simple" life especially in one of the most overly romanticized places in the world.
Rather depressing in the end. It's weird to have that much hopelessness in a story that is in theory filled with humble people and lofty ideals. Love the Greco references but there were a few too many characters and it was hard to remember who was a brother and who was an in-law.
Rather depressing in the end. It's weird to have that much hopelessness in a story that is in theory filled with humble people and lofty ideals. Love the Greco references but there were a few too many characters and it was hard to remember who was a brother and who was an in-law.
August 10, 2025
Ah drat, they can’t all be winners. I wanted to like this one, since I usually like mysteries that don’t try to be thrillers, but this just didn’t hit for me. I felt the main character could have avoided all her troubles if she just stuck to her mandate and didn’t get involved in things she didn’t have any business getting involved in. Also, the sections felt really weird. Like, the section about finding Leo felt more about Mico, and the same felt like it was happening for the other divisions in the story…
If I’m being honest, this would have normally been a DNF. I read it on vacation, and if I had remembered I brought my Kobo with me then I'd have given this one up around the 40-50% mark.
Now, I do need to give big props to Grames for her capture of small town life — especially the ability to hate each other at breakfast and then go to mass together afterwards. This is something I see authors struggle with a lot, so it was refreshing to see it done well.
If I’m being honest, this would have normally been a DNF. I read it on vacation, and if I had remembered I brought my Kobo with me then I'd have given this one up around the 40-50% mark.
Now, I do need to give big props to Grames for her capture of small town life — especially the ability to hate each other at breakfast and then go to mass together afterwards. This is something I see authors struggle with a lot, so it was refreshing to see it done well.
August 12, 2024
I really enjoyed this. Some parts could have used a bit more polishing, but in the end it's a unique story about a town (more than the mystery about whose body they found) and I liked the plot as a device to explore this strange little mountain world the author created.
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