Animals of the Alpine Front - Softcover

Zancanella, Don

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1953002633 ISBN 13: 9781953002631

Publisher: Delphinium Books, 2025

Synopsis

From a remote village between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire unrolls the intimate story of Teresa and Carlo, two young people whose paths cross and recross as they are first impelled by parents, then forced by sweeping world events to leave their childhood homes for lives they never imagined.

Having left her mother and cherished dog Allucio, in Ulfano, Teresa works as a domestic servant in a large villa in Trento. She survives the Great War in the occupied city by banding together in a makeshift family with the other servants of the owners who have fled to escape the occupation. Carlo, an American still new to Italy and who speaks barely passable Italian, is just finding his footing in Trento when he’s dragged from bed at his boarding school, along with his classmates, and conscripted by the invading Austrian army. In a comical twist of fate, Carlo’s childhood near the Colorado gold mines motivates his captors to place him with a company of miners tasked with digging entrenchments and bunkers and building a massive fortress out of stone and ice, even as blizzards rage and artillery shells fall from the sky. Out of sheer loneliness, Carlo writes letters to Teresa, the girl he met only once in Trento. After the war, Carlo returns to Trento and reconnects with Teresa. Times are unsettled, as soldiers and those who fled the war flood back to the city and signs of the impending Influenza epidemic appear. With so much chaos, tradition gives way to new ideas, so neither worries about the consequences of their growing attachment. However, the same independence that has them dreaming of a future that didn’t exist when they were children, may pull them apart forever.

About this title

About the Author

Don Zancanella is the author of two novels, Concord  (Serving House Books, 2021) and A Storm in the Stars (Delphinium, 2022). He's the recipient of an O. Henry Prize and his collection of short stories, Western Electric won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Animals of the Alpine Front was inspired by his family's history in Italy and his wife Dorene's work with a dog rescue organization. The novel is based on the author's family history. His relatives came from Italy to the western U.S. to work in coal mines. Don splits his time between Boise, ID and Albuquerque, NM.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

By the time his eyes were fully open, they’d arrived at the door: six Austrian soldiers in blue-gray uniforms. After a brief pause, they entered the room and coolly surveyed the rows of beds in the early morning light. From where he lay, he could see four of his classmates, all of them emerging from sleep and wearing expressions of alarm. He tried to think of a reason for the Austrian soldiers’ presence—a prank of some kind or a misunderstanding about the nature of the school. But no, he could tell already that the soldiers had come to take them away.

The soldiers were speaking German, so Carlo couldn’t understand. He tried instead to guess their meaning by watching how the other boys behaved. Everyone was grabbing their clothes, clumsily putting a leg into a pair of trousers, searching for their shoes. Then an idea came to him. Still without his shirt on, he went to the small box where he kept his valuables. From it, he removed the documents showing him to be an American citizen and thrust them toward the nearest soldier. The man read the papers, ripped them in half and tossed them on the floor. Suddenly, one of their teachers, Brother Leonardo, appeared, his eyes bright with panic. “You can’t do this,” he shouted. “They are students and not even Austrian. They want no part of your war.”

The soldiers ignored him and shoved the boys—eleven including Carlo—toward the stairs. But Brother Leonardo wasn’t ready to give up. He rushed at one of the soldiers and grabbed him by the arm. The soldiers glanced at each other as if to determine how

to manage this inconvenience. Suddenly, one of them drew his pistol and struck Brother Leonardo on the side of the head. He moaned and fell to his knees, blood streaming down his face. The boys looked on in horror; their scholarly, soft-spoken teacher appeared to be badly hurt. Yet Brother Leonardo got his feet again and stumbled toward the man who’d hit him. As he lurched forward, another soldier leveled his rifle and shot him dead. It happened so quickly. The sound was deafening. Everyone stopped moving and held their breaths. Carlo’s mouth went dry and a stab of pain passed through his head. He shut his eyes briefly; when he opened them, nothing had changed.

At last one boy spoke. “You didn’t have to do that.” The soldier holding the gun replied in words of German even Carlo could understand: “Yes, I think I did.” Never had Carlo been so terrified. He feared the boy’s remark would be considered impertinent and that it would lead to further violence. But the soldier with the pistol said, “Let us proceed. We have a long way to go.”

Outside, four more bewildered students huddled together. A woman who worked in the school’s kitchen stood beside them and protested, asking the soldiers to explain on

whose authority they were acting. “An order of general mobilization has been issued,” one of the soldiers told her. “It’s all quite legal and no further explanation is required.” Minutes later all fifteen boys were loaded into the back of an open lorry idling on a nearby street. They were still settling onto the rough plank seats when the lorry pulled away.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delphinium Books
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1953002633
• ISBN 13: 9781953002631
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336