Between Two States

A thrilling, thought-provoking historical fiction novel from Diane Pacitti, telling the story of anti-fascist Vincenzo Pacitti’s family as he flees Mussolini’s Italy. Between Two States tells the story of anti-fascist Vincenzo Pacitti’s family as he flees Mussolini’s Italy, forcing his wife to decide which two children they will take to Glasgow, and which two will be left behind. With the family split between the mountains of Italy and the struggle to survive in Glasgow, siblings Gabriella and Antonio are forced to grow up estranged. Raised in the ancient town of Cassino, Gabriella is embittered by her mother’s rejection and turns to fascism. In poverty-stricken Glasgow, Antonio feels an immigrant’s conflicted loyalties, which intensify when British Italians are interned in 1940. War-stricken Italy is divided by two occupying armies, alternately ally and oppressor, a crisis of identity played out in individual lives. What kind of country will a ‘liberated’ Italy be? Will the Scottish and Italian branches of the Pacitti family ever reunite?