Home Elsewhere: A Novel

by Marianne Rutter

It is the fall of 1942 and Giampaolo Stagno is starving. A soldier in the beleaguered Italian Army, the young Sicilian is captured and shipped from North Africa to the United States as a prisoner of war, assigned to a POW camp in New Jersey.

A hundred miles from the camp, in Pennsylvania, Eleanor Fazzio is also starving—for a different life. She works in a textile mill and returns home each day to her mother and cousins and their close-knit Italian-American immigrant community. War has limited the possibilities for a thirty-year-old woman in Eleanor’s corner of America, and she longs for another kind of life.

Giampaolo and Eleanor know nothing of each other, though they share the customs and dialect of their island homeland, Sicily. Fate conspires to bring the couple their common heritage, shaped thousands of miles apart, forges a tentative bond between them. But the vagaries of a world war and its aftermath drive them apart, thrusting the pair into an uncertain future.

483 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 30, 2022

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

A multilayered story of love, loss, and finding home is skillfully woven from a little known aspect of the U.S. homefront in WW2. This is a hero's journey crafted from unlikely circumstances, the author's father first arrived in the U.S. as a POW. His experiences working to support the U.S. homefront effort are both his and those of countless others on farms, industry and shipping. They willingly applied themselves to the work and in the course of the war became vital source of labor and eventually allies.
Naturalized Italian immigrants and their subsequent families of the time identified as Italian-Americans and enlisted as GIs to defend their home. At the same time they worried about the families they left behind in the home of their origins. They craved information about conditions for the civilians during the war.
Out of such a fragrant stew of love, family and connection Marianne Rutter crafts a poignant story that tugs on your heart, shines a light on forgotten history and examines what it means to seek a home elsewhere.

[Jaime Aulson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love historical fiction because I learn while being entertained.

I learned so much from this book!

POW camps all over the United States. How Italian Americans felt about the war and how they were treated. Insight into the impact of war on everyday Italian life.

This book also made me hungry. I could almost smell the tables of food described. And an entertaining love story to top is all off!

[Dana Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very warm, well-written, and affecting story of the relationship between an Italian POW sent to the US during WW II and the Italian-American woman he meets here. A side of history I knew nothing about, told in a very personal way, full of anecdotes (and descriptions of food!), with very engaging characters.

[Elisa Speranza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marianne Rutter has done a fabulous job recording this little-known WW2-era story for posterity—and sharing it in the context of an accessible family saga replete with beautifully drawn characters, and evocative settings that bring the reader right into the story. And the food! My mouth was watering the whole time. I could feel the love coming off the page as the author’s culinary descriptions were rendered with great accuracy and detail. Her attention to detail overall is Michener-esque, reflecting an enormous research effort. The people, rooms, food, clothing—all of it is so evocative of the time and settings. There are so few resources documenting this fascinating yet hidden history. If you’re interested in the true history behind the story, don’t miss her exhaustive Author’s Note at the end.

[AR bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drawing from family history, the author has created a tale of a side of history not often told: a Sicilian Italian soldier in the WWII North African front, captured as a P.O.W., comes to America and struggles to find a new life with a new love.
This is a very well written story needing to be read.

[Ellen Aulson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't usually read historical fiction but it captivated Mr

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignante love story about the author's parents. And a unique glimpse into World War II history. I could not put the book down and am eagerly awaiting the prequel. I