The Cielo Journal

An Unforgettable Evening in Elm Grove

I know I haven't written for a while. You probably thought, as I did, that my fifteen minutes of fame were over. Not quite.

Our daughter, who teaches Italian at the University of Delaware, told a colleague, who is from Milwaukee, about my book when it came out. The colleague told her sister, who lives in Elm Grove, a suburb of Milwaukee, about it The sister read it and loved it. She suggested that her book club read it as well, and they did

And so on April 16 I was invited to speak to the book club. It was at the home of Lyn and Mike Hamilton. They have a villa very near Sant'Anna and have visited the place. Lyn prepared a wonderful meal that included chicken cacciatore and tiramisu.

About 25 people, including five husbands, attended. I was amazed how everyone -- everyone!-- knew all the characters and the most minor of details. They knew the book better than I do! They also asked questions about the writing process, which I couldn't answer. I just write.

So thanks to the Elm Grove Book Club. And special thanks to the sister of our daughter's colleague, who initiated this. By the way, on May 15, I'll speak at the Elm Grove Public Library. That was initiated by this same woman. Many many thanks.

"The Cielo" is part of "An Afternoon Under the Tuscan Sky"

Last July, when I was displaying "The Cielo" at Festa Italiana in Milwaukee, Ewa Barczyk, the director of libraries at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, stopped by. We had a nice chat about the book, and she was clearly interested.

How interested I didn't know until December when she called and asked me to take part in "An Afternoon Under the Tuscan Sky" at the Golda Meier Library in February.

And so, on a snowy Tuesday this week, I was part of this most enjoyable event. I talked about and read from my book for about 40 minutes, and then came what I thought was the best part: food. Two chefs from the Tutti a Tavola, a renowned cooking school in Tuscany, were on hand to demonstrate some favorite Italian dishes. Elissa Franke is a Milwaukeean who lives in Tuscany half the year and Simonetta Palazio just happened to be visiting here.

They made an exquisite lasagna, an appetizer and a creamy gelato. And then we all got to sample each. I sold a number of books and had pleasant conversations with people who had already read it and wanted to tell me how much they enjoyed it.

Despite the all-day snow, it was great to be "under the Tuscany sky" for a little while.

Even more reviews for The Cielo

"The Cielo: A Novel of Wartime Tuscany" is still being discovered by newspapers and magazines.

The Winter 2008 issue of Accenti, "The Magazine with an Italian Accent" published in Montreal, ran a short review and photo of the cover. The review said the book "is a gripping story of courage, endurance and the power of the human spirit in the cruelest of times."

Closer to home, Central Wisconsin Sunday, part of the Stevens Point Journal and Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, published a review by Ivy Farguheson that praised the characters, story and setting of the book and added:

"The descriptions of the Italian countryside also are fabulous in this work. Travel to Italy is not required to truly enjoy it as Salsini provides just enough description to send the imagination spinning, creating a world that one might wish to visit someday."

Holiday greetings and an update

It's Christmas Eve, and, regarding "The Cielo" there are a lot of things to be thankful for. More than a year after publication sales continue to be good and a new ediition will be out early next year. The text won't be changed, but the back cover will be updated and at least one of the awards will be listed. i'm excited about that.
And the connections with old friends continue to be made through the book. At a bookstore in Appleton, where I was doing a signing, the clerk at the store turned out to be the daughter of a longtime colleague at the Journal and it was so good to talk to her about her mom. At a book club meeting in Waukesha I was surpised to look up -- a good half hour into the session -- and recognize a colleague on the Marquette faculty. This was the first real conversation we've had. A couple of days ago I heard from a member of my class at Marquette -- so many many years ago. She wrote from Hawaii, where she's been living and working ever since graduation, to tell me how much she liked the book. And today, the son of some dear friends, both gone now, wrote his annual Christmas message in which he went on and on about the book.
As I've said before, these new connections with old friends are some of the best things to come out of the book.

A year after publication, more praise for "The Cielo"

I'm a little suprised that a book published in November 2006 is still receiving attention. It still has "legs," a friend says.

This review was posted last month on Georgetown University's Culture Club webpage:

"This book is written in such a way that it encourages you to read it page after page without stopping. The plot, although it is in the form of a novel, takes place on a realistic plane, sometimes crude, sometimes enthusiastic, at times sentimental. Being Italian, I relished every word, every event, every individual, every action, appreciating the truth of it all up to the final page. The book deals with the period of the German occupation of a village in Tuscany. It chronicles the doings of the residents of this village who were forced to go to a nearby farm, Il Cielo, and who lived close to the tragedies that were taking place at the hands of the Germans and the Fascists in the nearby villages, including the killing of the priest of the village who was in contact via radio with the Allied Forces and the massacre carried out by the German SS in the village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema where old women and children were cut down without a plausible reason. This novel, although it is limited to one village in the north of Tuscany, is the real testimony of what happened throughout Italy from the time the country was occupied from September 1943 to April 1945 until the end when the Germans surrendered in that area of the war."

Fra Noi, an Italian American monthly published in Chicago, had this to say:

"Milwaukee native Paul Salsini has written his first novel based on facts and stories he heard from his cousin, who survived German occupation and the Allied invsion of the region where his grandfather was born. 'The Cielo: A Novel of Wartorn Tuscany' recreates actual evnts in an imagined place to deliver a story that's long on action and short on style. This veteran journalist dramatizes thorough research, showing us how World War II was a difficult and dangerous time to be a good Italian."

And in a long review on the Amazon.com site for the book, Roger K. Miller, the author of the new "The Invisible Hero," says (in part):

"Paul Salsini's debut novel, 'The Cielo,' inspired by an episode in his Italian family's history is a marvel of historical re-creation. The pleasure of an artistically satisfying novel is doubled when it also tells you about something you didn't know--in this case, fascinting detail about Italian resistance to German brutality in Tuscany in the summer of 1944…"

Another award for "The Cielo"

When I opened the big envelope from Writer's Digest yesterday, I thought it would be my renewal notice. Instead, it was notification that "The Cielo" had won an honorable mention in fiction in the magazine's annual International Self-Published Book Awards. Wow!

While the official announcement won't be made until next April, I looked at the list of 2006 winners and found that there is one first-place award and then four honorable mentions. There were about 450 entries last year.

The judge's comments were also included:

"This was a lovely story about a time and place that I know little about, but find intriguing. You did a wonderful job of bringing this place to life. I loved all the details about what day to life was like, both in Sant'Antonio and the Cielo. I also thought you had a great premise and you pulled it off beautifully--that this mixed group of villagers were trapped together in this house and were forced to learn about themselves and each other over the months they were stuck together. Each villager had a compelling issue to deal with, but my heart went out to poor Maria. I knew nothing about the massacre at Sant'Anna and it was horrifying. You do a nice job of building up the tension, telling us from the start that the Nazis are willing to kill innocent civilians as retribution for the acts of the partisans. I also found Gina very compelling, and I mourned for Carlotta, but was glad she had Lucia and her baby. It was impossible to put this book down."

The award is $50 of Writer's Digest books of my choosing.

So that makes two first-place awards and two honorable mentions for a book I just wanted to write.

More discussions of the book

It was a heady weekend. In fact, a heady two weekends.

Two weekends ago, I was on a panel with five other Wisconsin authors as part of the Wisconsin Book Festival. We each had a chance to talk about our books, how they originated and how they were published. The crowd was very interested and it was great to meet readers.

This past weekend, Barbara and I attended Schwartz' Bookstores "Reader's Retreat" at The Abbey in Fontana, on Lake Geneva. It's a sprawling resort but we didn't have time to enjoy it because there was one author sessions after another. I especially enjoyed Erin Richards, who wrote "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" and Ron McLarty, who wrote "Traveler."

On Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday morning, I was on a panel with two other Wisconsin writers, Lesley Kagen, who wrote "Whistling in the Dark," and C. J. Hribal, a Marquette professor who wrote "The Company Car." Again, the audiences were great and asked a lot of questions. And, they bought books! An extraordinary weekend.

"The Cielo": Still a lot of interest

It's been ten months since "The Cielo" was published. I thought its fifteen minutes of fame ended a while ago, but there still seems to be interest.

Last week, I was asked by a book club in Waukesha to talk about how the novel came about and to discuss the writing process. The members not only liked the book, they had obviously read it thoroughly. They remembered details I had forgotten. One member brought along a CD of the Corelli "La Folia," the piece Francesco plays in the book and which we used as background. Now that's attention to detail!

This Saturday, I'll take part in a panel at the Wisconsin Book Festival, the amazing celebration of books and authors held in Milwaukee and Madison. I'll be on the panel "Six Wisconsin Authors Talk about the Writing Life." It's at the Redbird Writing Studio, 3195 S. Superior St., from 4 to 7 p.m.

The following weekend, I'll be on another Wisconsin authors panel at Schwartz Bookstores' "Readers' Retreat" at The Abbey in Fontana, Wis. I'll be with C.J. Hribal and Lesley Kagen in sessions at 2 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.

And there are some other things coming up, too. This continues to amaze me.

Selling "The Cielo" at a block party

The annual block party of my parish, SS Peter and Paul in Milwaukee, is not only a good fund-raiser but also a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day Saturday after a lot of rain and, except for the mosquitoes, perfect for the event. I had a table in the "market" and greeted old friends and made new ones. And sold some books.

It's surprising that the book is still getting attention since it's been out since last November. But the other day, out of the blue, I received an email from a magazine in Canada asking for a copy for a review. "Accenti," which is published quarterly, calls itself "The Canadian Magazine with an Italian Accent." It looks fascinating from its website and I'm looking forward to the review.

Back from a wonderful "retreat"

It's been four days now since I returned from Edenfred, the wonderful place in Madison, Wis., where writers and others can spend time alone and work on projects. I didn't know what to expect, and it was far more than I expected. Besides the executive director, who prepared a great gourmet meal for us Tuesday night, there were only four of us there. Two were other writers who had won first place from the Council for Wisconsin Writers and the fourth, besides me, was a painter from Hawaii.
Because we were working in our own 'suites,' we saw little of each other, though we all enjoyed the gorgeous, beautifully decorated house, built in 1916. It was a terribly hot week, too hot for me to go into the swimming pool, but the others did.
I needed the time to focus on the sequel to "The Cielo." I thought, at best, I might write four or five chapters. Instead, the atmosphere and the isolation kept me going and going and when I left on Saturday, I had completed ten chapters -- the final part of the book. I have to add that much of this was very rough, little more than outlines, but I wanted to get the story down, and I did that. This week I'm working on revising, adding and, yes, eliminating.
I can't thank Edenfred enough for this experience.