Cognetti:Down in the valley

The story of two unequal brothers. A father planted two trees in front of his house, one for each child. The first, a larch, is like Luigi—hard and fragile. In 37 years, Luigi has never left the valley; he and his wife Betta fell in love while swimming in the river pools among the white birches. Now they are expecting a little girl. The second tree, the sturdier spruce that thrives in the shade, is like the quarrelsome Fredo. Years ago, he turned his back on his homeland. Now he has returned to the valley to free himself from his parents' house and his origins after their father's death. The two brothers are separated by more than they are connected, yet their roots grow in the same soil. Paolo Cognetti tells the gripping, condensed story of a loyalty conflict. Not only is the nature of Piedmont wonderfully captured in words, but also its quirky people, who must irrevocably change due to the arrival of modernity and progress.