The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store
Winner of the International Rubery Award 2015 - Fiction Category
Longlisted for the New Angle Prize 2015
In 1949, the arrival of an Italian family sets tongues wagging in the village of Leyton, an English farming community still recovering from the war. For seventeen-year-old Connie, however, the newcomers provide a tantalising glimpse of the wider world — a world beyond the gossip and petty concerns traded over the counter of Cleat’s Corner Store.
Under their father’s stern eye, the Onorati brothers adapt to their new life in remarkably different ways. While the charismatic Vittorio is determined to reinvent himself and embrace all things English, the solitary Lucio is haunted by the secrets of his past, events that tether him to the war in the mountains of Lazio.
As both brothers begin to cast an unexpected influence over Leyton, Connie realises that, like them, she must grapple with her ambitions and dreams for the future. But what can any of them hope to find in the ruins of all they have lost?
The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store is a heartwarming, vividly observed tale of small-town life, exploring love, prejudice and identity in the wake of World War II.
Praise for The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store
'This may be Jo Riccioni’s debut but it has all the hallmarks of an accomplished and assured novelist … While the narrative has us captivated, the prose itself is a sheer joy. Characters are vivid, similes and metaphors are nailed with ease. Themes emerge quietly and then flower to illuminate the sense of the book … [A] romantic and enthralling story.’
DIANNE DEMPSEY, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald Read the full review here.
'A polished and absorbing debut from a new talent in Australian fiction.'
CATE KENNEDY, Australian Vogel Award judge, author of The World Beneath (winner of the NSW Premier's Award - People's Choice) and The Taste of River Water (winner of the Victorian Premier's Award for Poetry)
'Assured from the first page and beautifully written with a light touch, Riccioni's engaging novel pits free spirits against the confines of a postwar English village'
PADDY O'REILLY, author of The Fine Colour of Rust (shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal)
'Riccioni works in what might be called 'heartfelt slow-motion', not rushing her narrative, exploring her characters sensitively but meticulously, layering one scene and incident on top of another. She is a careful, rather graceful accumulator.'
MARK THOMAS, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald. Read the full review here.
'A rich debut novel. Riccioni weaves together romance and tragedy, and captures a vivid sense of history and place, in a story that is at once expansive and personal.'
PORTIA LINDSAY, Books + Publishing (4 stars and selected as a Top Pick for first quarter 2014)
Mindfoods Magazine selected The Italians as a Mother's Day pick in their Special Red edition for March 2014.