THE VIETRI PROJECT

This ambitious first novel is given a near perfect interpretation by Sophie Amoss. Her appealing textured voice bonds us to the narrator, an otherwise rather opaque young employee at a Berkeley, California, bookstore. For months Gabriele, half-Italian herself, fills and ships esoteric book orders for a Signor Vietri in Rome. Ever more curious about his reading lists, she eventually lands in Rome herself and goes looking for her elderly customer. As a plot device, Gabriele's search provides scaffolding for exploring Italy's complicated history in Vietri's lifetime. Emotionally, the story is of Gabriele coming to understand her complicated relationship with her own Roman family. The task for Amoss is to keep us engaged with Gabriele, even when she's a mystery to herself. Amoss nails it. B.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2021]