Marco Rafalà paints a masterpiece with words.

“A dark secret born out of World War II lies at the heart of a Sicilian American family in this emotional and sweeping saga of guilt, revenge, and, ultimately, redemption.”

HOW FIRES END is the debut novel of this stunningly talented author. I had to keep reminding myself over and over that is a debut novel. The writing is superb, and I was quickly drawn into the story of this family.

Written from the perspectives of Salvatore, his sister Nella, his son David, and his friend Vincenzo the story begins in Middletown, Connecticut where the families settled over time. After the shocking ending of the first section, we are then thrown back in time to postwar Melilli, Sicily where nine-year-old Salvatore’s twin brothers are killed by a mortar shell and the lives of two families would be forever changed. Like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle the reader is able to slowly piece together fragments of the story and eventually unravel the secrets that have affected the families over generations. The book ends in Middletown as the consequence of the long buried secrets is realized.

At times my breath was taken away as I felt the heartaches the Vassallo family endured. I was frustrated with the betrayals and the price that sons had to pay for their fathers’ wars. This is a culture where nothing is stronger than family, yet family can be destroyed by pride and senseless revenge. I kept hoping the families involved would recognize this before being completely destroyed.

This multi-generational story is artfully woven through with the background of the families and descriptions of the Sicilian landscape, the traditional foods and rich culture, and old-world religion. I highly recommend this book and suspect the characters will linger in your memories for some time. ( )

This beautifully written novel is about secrets and how they can affect a family through the generations. It's told in three parts - David, the son; Salvatore, the father and Vincenzo, a friend and father figure who helped bring Salvatore and his sister Nella from Sicily to America at the end of WWII. Even though they are a loving family they all struggle with the secrets that they keep from David.

It's very interesting the way that the author told this story -- first we see the outcome of keeping secrets and then we learn the secrets and the reasons for hiding the secrets after the war. The three of them agree that they won't discuss what happened to them in Sicily during the war to the next generation and even though their reasons make sense, the result of that decision is catastrophic and they all learn too late that the price that was paid for their secrets was too high.

This is a story of war and secrets, family betrayals and family curses that can cause irreparable harm when they are carried into the next generation. The writing is beautiful and the descriptions of Sicily are incredible. I highly recommend this beautiful novel about family and secrets.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own. ( )