Christopher Castellani Libri

Set in 1953, this poignant narrative explores the struggles of Maddalena Grasso, who has sacrificed her homeland and loved ones for a new life in America. Alongside her volatile husband, Antonio, who grapples with his unfulfilled dreams, and their introverted friend Guilio Fabbri, an accordion player mourning his parents, the story delves into themes of loss, resilience, and the search for belonging within a close-knit Italian community in Wilmington, Delaware.

In July of 1953, at a glittering party thrown by Truman Capote in Portofino, Italy, Tennessee Williams and his longtime lover Frank Merlo meet Anja Blomgren, a mysteriously taciturn young Swedish beauty and aspiring actress. Their encounter will go on to alter all of their lives. Ten years later, Frank revisits the tempestuous events of that fateful summer from his deathbed in Manhattan, where he waits anxiously for Tennessee to visit him one final time. Anja, now legendary film icon Anja Bloom, lives as a recluse in the present-day U.S., until a young man connected to the events of 1953 lures her reluctantly back into the spotlight after he discovers she possesses the only surviving copy of Williams's final play. What keeps two people together and what breaks them apart? Can we save someone else if we can't save ourselves? Like The Master and The Hours, Leading Men seamlessly weaves fact and fiction to navigate the tensions between public figures and their private lives. In an ultimately heartbreaking story about the burdens of fame and the complex negotiations of life in the shadows of greatness, Castellani creates an unforgettable leading lady in Anja Bloom and reveals the hidden machinery of one of the great literary love stories of the twentieth-century.

It is 1943 and Santa Cecilia has become a village of women. All the young men are away at war, and for Vito Leone, time is short. A few months shy of the draft, he has begun to woo the beautiful Maddalena Piccinelli, the daughter of the town's most powerful family. No matter that her parents dismiss him as a mammoni, a mama's boy, or that her older sister has publicly called him a fool. But Maddalena sees the romantic side of Vito, his humour and his tenderness. As the war intensifies, so do her feelings towards her unlikely suitor. When the Italians unexpectedly surrender to the Allies, the retreating German soldiers invade Santa Cecilia, forcing everyone to flee, except Vito and his mother. While the village is being shelled and looted, Vito, with ingenuity and boundless devotion, comes up with the perfect plan to prove that he is a suitor worthy of Maddalena. When the Piccinellis finally return home to Santa Cecilia, they find some marvellous changes have taken place in both Vito and the village...

Erst als Antonio seine Frau zu verlieren droht, erkennt er, wie sehr er sie wirklich liebt. Als Maddalena 1946 ihr verarmtes Dorf in Italien verließ, um mit ihrem Mann Antonio in den USA ein neues, glückliches Leben zu beginnen, träumte auch sie den amerikanischen Traum von Wohlstand und Freiheit. Aber die Wirklichkeit sieht anders aus: Das Geld ist knapp, und Antonios einstige Liebe zu ihr scheint verschwunden. Selbst das Kind, das sie erwartet, lehnt er ab. Doch dann erkrankt Maddalena so schwer, dass ihr Leben in Gefahr gerät, und mit einem Mal erkennt Antonio, welch tiefe Zuneigung er noch immer für seine Frau empfindet. Inbrünstig betet er zum Heiligen der verlorenen Dinge, Maddalena ihr Leben – und ihre Liebe – zurückzugeben ...