Publishers Weekly
10/26/2020
Ardone takes a moving look at the experiences of a seven-year-old child in post-WWII Italy in her tender English-language debut. In 1946, Amerigo Speranza is one of a group of children sent by train from Naples to Northern Italy to spend time with an affluent family as part of a Communist Party initiative to provide a break from poverty. Despite their anxieties, the kids remain capable of selflessness, giving up their winter coats for the family they leave behind, making the departure scene a searing one. When Amerigo arrives in Modena, he ends up with Derna, a woman who has no affinity for children; nonetheless, they eventually bond, and Amerigo’s interest in music is nurtured by Derna’s piano tuner cousin-in-law, leading to unexpected complications when he’s reunited with his mother six months later. The overall tone is somber, as the book is told from Amerigo’s perspective looking back on his life, but Ardone does introduce some lighter moments, as when one of Amerigo’s fellow refugee children is asked if he’d ever seen an earthenware pignatta down south. His reply: “We had the sticks but not the pots.” With a mix of stark realism and wistful reflection, Ardone succeeds in portraying the challenges of growing up under trying circumstances. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
“The innocence of childhood collides with the stark aftermath of war in this wrenching and ultimately redemptive tale of family, seemingly impossible choices, and the winding paths to destiny, which sometimes take us to places far beyond our imaginings.” — Lisa Wingate, author of Before We Were Yours and The Book of Lost Friends
“The Children’s Train is a sympathetic, well-crafted novel filled with vacation-worthy sights and authentic experiences from an Italy that balances folk tradition with modernity.” — New York Journal of Books
"Ardone’s beautifully crafted story explores the meaning of identity and belonging...recommended to fans of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels." — Library Journal
“Ardone’s novel will appeal to fans of Elena Ferrante, but it stands on its own as a fictionalized account of an exceptional—and exceptionally complicated—social experiment.” — BookPage
“[The Children’s Train] leaves you with a great sense of the importance of family and the tough decisions that must be faced as a result of that love.” — Shelf Awareness
“The novel is poignant, delicate, [and] profound.” — Bruno Elpis
“The Children's Train is for those who want to jump into a painful but hopeful historical period and for those who love fiction from the point of view of the little ones.” — Elena Naldi, Leggere a Colori
“Amerigo's voice won me over. I devoured the pages of his story, because in his stories as a child there is so much lightheartedness and fear at the same time that one cannot help but love.” — Scheggia tra le Pagine
Lisa Wingate
The innocence of childhood collides with the stark aftermath of war in this wrenching and ultimately redemptive tale of family, seemingly impossible choices, and the winding paths to destiny, which sometimes take us to places far beyond our imaginings.
Elena Naldi
The Children's Train is for those who want to jump into a painful but hopeful historical period and for those who love fiction from the point of view of the little ones.”
Bruno Elpis
The novel is poignant, delicate, [and] profound.”
Scheggia tra le Pagine
Amerigo's voice won me over. I devoured the pages of his story, because in his stories as a child there is so much lightheartedness and fear at the same time that one cannot help but love.”
Shelf Awareness
[The Children’s Train] leaves you with a great sense of the importance of family and the tough decisions that must be faced as a result of that love.”
BookPage
Ardone’s novel will appeal to fans of Elena Ferrante, but it stands on its own as a fictionalized account of an exceptional—and exceptionally complicated—social experiment.”
New York Journal of Books
The Children’s Train is a sympathetic, well-crafted novel filled with vacation-worthy sights and authentic experiences from an Italy that balances folk tradition with modernity.
Library Journal
11/01/2020
Amerigo Speranza spends his days on the streets of Naples scrounging rags for his mother to sell. Food is scarce and poverty rife in post-World War II Italy, especially in the south, until charitable Communists organize a train to take the children north and place them with families who can feed and clothe them. Thus begins a life lived in two worlds, with Amerigo feeling out of place in both. Is he a violinist who eventually travels the world giving concerts, or a child of the slums living off his wits? It is a dichotomy that never resolves, making it impossible for him to feel at home with anyone or anything, until his mother dies and he revisits his childhood home. Ardone's beautifully crafted story explores the meaning of identity and belonging, but readers may be disoriented by the break between the child Amerigo and the middle-aged man, a disruption that leaves one longing for more development to connect the two and an ending that is less rushed and unconvincing after the exquisitely slow and atmospheric buildup at the beginning. VERDICT Ardone's first English-language translation is recommended to fans of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels and for libraries where those are popular.—Cynthia Johnson, formerly with Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA
