Community loyalty and the power
of taking pride in one’s hometown--doing anything to save it--is the central
theme of the very funny debut novel, The Patron
Saint of Second Chances by Christine Simon.
Prometto, Italy (fictional)
has 212 occupants, and one resident, Signor Giovannino Speranza, believes he has the power
to change things—or at least he hopes so. Speranza is of the old school and
traditional values. He is a 62-year-old husband, father and grandfather—a vacuum
cleaner salesman-repairman disillusioned with young people always on their phones and
social media and eagerly determined to leave town. He regularly turns to the
saints to guide him and dispel his disappointments and arguments with God.
Having always taken pride in Prometto, he’s become something of the local mayor.
Now that the town, in
dire financial straits--the budget doesn’t have enough funds to restore the
plumbing system and faces having the water turned off, forcing residents to
relocate--desperate Speranza concocts a story about how Dante Rinaldi, a heartthrob movie star, is planning to film his next blockbuster near Prometto. The invented news takes off and injects a hopeful jolt of enthusiasm that rallies the town and beyond,
including young people and even the local parish priest,
while boosting tourism and local businesses in the process. But what will happen when Dante
Rinaldi doesn’t descend on Prometto with a film crew and news gets out about the ruse
Speranza has crafted?
Simon’s fun, clever story offers a hilarious
literary escape. Readers will smile and laugh out loud at her well-drawn cast
of quirky characters, those who long--and will do anything--to be a part of the film and its production. The plot snowballs, twisting in madcap ways with turns as sharp as
the narrow roads that wind their way through the lovable charm of Prometto.
The
Patron Saint of Second Chances: A Novel by Christine Simon
Atria
Book, $27.00 hardcover, 978-1982188771, 360 pages
Publication Date: April
12, 2022
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