The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia

One unidentified skeleton. Three missing men. A village full of secrets. The best-selling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna brings us a sparkling--by turns funny and moving--novel about a young American woman turned amateur detective in a small village in Southern Italy.

"A reflective novel about dark times that tells us life goes on, love stories develop, humanity remains in the most inhumane of times." --Irish Independent

Calabria, 1960. Francesca Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there's no mail, either.

Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don't the police come and investigate? When the local priest's housekeeper begs Francesca to help determine if the remains are those of her long-missing son, Francesca begins to ask a lot of inconvenient questions. As an outsider, she might be the only person who can uncover the truth. Or she might be getting in over her head. As she attempts to juggle a nosy landlady, a suspiciously dashing shepherd, and a network of local families bound together by a code of silence, Francesca finds herself forced to choose between the charitable mission that brought her to Santa Chionia, and her future happiness, between truth and survival.

Set in the wild heart of Calabria, a land of sheer cliff faces, ancient tradition, dazzling sunlight--and one of the world's most ruthless criminal syndicates--The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a suspenseful puzzle mystery, a captivating romance, and an affecting portrait of a young woman in search of a meaningful life.

Author: Juliet Grames
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: 07/23/2024
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.49lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.00w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9780593536179


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 02/01/2024 pg. 7
Publishers Weekly 04/01/2024
Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2024
Library Journal 06/01/2024 pg. 100
Booklist 06/01/2024 pg. 37
BookPage 07/01/2024

About the Author
JULIET GRAMES is the best-selling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in Real Simple, Parade, and The Boston Globe, and she is the recipient of an Ellery Queen Award from the Mystery Writers of America. She is editorial director at Soho Press in New York.