LAMBRUSCO
Ellen Cooney
Pantheon
Fiction
ISBN: 9780375424960

Lucia Fantini was once in love with life. The emotional heart of her husband's village restaurant Aldo's, Lucia fed her many customers' hearts even as the wonderful food fed their stomachs. She nightly entertained the restaurants' guests with the music of Verdi, Rossini and Puccini --- her country's most notable opera composers. Dressed in beautiful gowns to complement the musical selections, Lucia used her voice to elicit a romantic ambience, even a marriage proposal or two. Surrounded by her many neighbors and co-workers and her small but loving family (her husband Aldo and her son Giuseppi, nicknamed Beppi), Lucia had a life full of friends, family and music.

But that was before Benito Mussolini's fascist Blackshirts, and then the German Nazis, seemed to infiltrate every corner of Italy. Even Aldo's, once a safe harbor for Lucia's neighbors, has been filled with hostile strangers. When Aldo dies, Lucia feels estranged from her old life. Now she no longer sings for the love of life --- instead, she substitutes the name of her favorite wine (Lambrusco) for the words of her beloved arias, which have become too painful to sing.

Lucia is not the only one mourning the loss of her old life. The cooks and waiters at the restaurant --- and even some of their children --- have become partisans, secretly plotting against the fascist influences around them. Before long, Lucia has become the perfect gun runner for the ragtag organization --- no one would suspect this innocent-looking woman of hiding guns and ammunition in bags of flour! But when Beppi blows up a German tank and then goes on the run, Lucia's involvement with the resistance movement takes on a new urgency. As she encounters old lovers and friends, as well as new, unlikely allies, Lucia tries desperately to find her son --- and a glimmer of that life she once knew.

The strongest aspect of Ellen Cooney's LAMBRUSCO is the individuality with which she paints each of Lucia's friends and acquaintances. Using distinctive dialogue, odd quirks and individual foibles, Cooney manages to flesh out the large cast of characters who flicker through Lucia's narrative. At times it still can be difficult to keep track of the large number of partisans who play more or less major roles in the novel, but her eye for detail and ear for dialogue result in a richly embellished tapestry of the people and places in Lucia's life.

Lucia's story is a fluid one, drifting freely --- and sometimes abruptly --- from the present (as Lucia dodges hostile bullets and wayward bombs) to the past (as she recalls better days, or recollects first meetings with old friends) and even to pure fantasy (as she imagines a conversation in which her favorite composers argue their relative greatness). Despite its sometimes dreamy tone and serious subject matter, Cooney's novel manages to find humor, friendship and love in even the most surprising and stressful circumstances. And despite its bleak moments, LAMBRUSCO, like the wine of its title, offers a toast to the pleasures of life.

   --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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