The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia

Francesca comments with irony on the distinction between a shepherd and a gangster, which isn’t always clear. What do you think it means to be a “shepherd” in Santa Chionia? Why do you think unlawful activities are so ubiquitous in this town? Why do you think there is so little police presence?

Who do you think the “lost boy” in the title of the book is referring to?

Who do you think the skeleton under the post office belonged to? In your opinion, does the victim’s identity matter?

The unknown fate of disappeared immigrant men is a major theme throughout the novel. Through the very different stories of Leo Romeo, Mico Scordo, and Ceciu Legato, we see the diverse ways and reasons men might go missing. The novel is also interested in the ways the trauma of those disappearances can ripple through families for generations. Do you know of any stories in your own family history where a forefather or uncle immigrated to another country and was never heard from again?

Over and over, residents of Santa Chionia tell Francesca there is no such thing as a mafia there. What is the manifestation of organized crime in Santa Chionia? What are some of its activities? Its rules? How would you characterize the different criminal enterprises of Rocco Alvaro, Tito Lico, and Santo Arcudi, and how do you imagine men like Turi Laganà and Pascali Morabito fit in? What about men like Officer Vadalà or Pino Pangallo?

Cicca insists that Don Pantaleone Bianco is the “savior” of Santa Chionia. Given Francesca’s revelations about him, what do you make of Cicca’s good opinion? Knowing what you do about him, does any of Don Pantaleone’s work have merit, or is it all suspect because of the way he abuses his power?

In your opinion, what is the real reason Francesca doesn’t go to Milan with Ugo when he suggests she leave with him?

Francesca often struggles with the question of how to do the right thing in a situation where her own personal morality does not apply. For example, whether to tell someone that Vannina Favasuli is in possession of dangerous firearms or whether to require potentially illiterate villagers to fill out the nursery school application form her organization requires. Do you think she learns any lessons over the course of the book about the difference between being a good person and doing the right thing?

We see a number of troubled marriages in the book: Isodiana and Santo Arcudi’s is one example; Francesca’s own marriage is another. Neither woman believes they have the option of divorce available to them. How do you imagine those two marriages evolving after the book ends? Women in 1960 Italy experienced many financial, social, and legal barriers to equality in their marriage. To what degree do you feel those barriers are still present in modern-day North America?

Santa Chionia is located in the heart of Area Grecanica, the “Greek” zone of the Aspromonte mountains, where the Greco language, a fusion of Byzantine Greek and Calabrian Italian, is still spoken today. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, many linguistic minority communities like Santa Chionia were dismantled all over the world, including in North America. In addition to enduring prejudice for their language, the Greci of Calabria suffered tragedies like being removed from their ancestors’ family land and having their children taken away to be raised by other people, ones who could purportedly offer them better opportunities. In Santa Chionia, where has the town’s linguistic and cultural identity been a factor in the town’s isolation or hardships? What challenges are there to preserving cultural heritage in marginalized communities? What kinds of traumas can be incurred by a community that is forced to abandon their cultural heritage?

Ugo tells Francesca, “It is too late to correct Santa Chionia’s course,” and “The problem is that when you are so isolated, to defend against the monsters outside you have no defense from the monsters within.” Do you agree with him? Is Santa Chionia a hopeless cause? What is a society’s responsibility to a situation as difficult as Santa Chionia’s? How could the government have managed things differently? If you were a resident of Santa Chionia in 1960, would you have felt a responsibility to stay and try to improve conditions there, or would you have sought a different fate elsewhere, like so many immigrants?

Francesca Loftfield narrates the story of what happened to her in 1960 from the perspective of many years later. How would the story be different if she were telling it in real time? What impact could the intervening years have on how she tells the story or how you receive it?