Two boys in love in an Italy torn apart by fascism. The regime to divide them, love to set them free.
Catania, 1939. Twenty-one-year-old Sasà, an apprentice in a carpentry shop, dreams of leaving the fishing district where he lives with his mother, leaving for the sea and seeing the world, perhaps together with Michele, the boy he is in love with. But he, on the contrary, has different plans for the future. He is the eldest son of a bourgeois family, whose expectations he has never disappointed: physically well-built, he is close to graduating with a degree in Literature and will marry a young woman his equal. He would be the perfect fascist were it not for the love that binds him to Sasà, in a secret relationship that has lasted for a year now. One night on the beach, however, the two are caught and arrested by the carabinieri, and their paths diverge. Sasà is taken to San Domino, the island of the “inverted,” of the “arrusi,” where homosexuals are confined, punished and made invisible to society because they are guilty of attacking the morals and integrity of the race. Faced with the passionate and romantic tales of the other inmates, despite the horror of imprisonment, the boy will for the first time feel part of something. Michael, on the other hand, will be forced to come to terms in order to have a life he believes is better. One in, the other out, they will soon realize that true freedom is being yourself and loving who you want. The Forgotten Ones is a debut that leaves its mark, a novel about unconditional love and the search for one’s identity, inspired by the true story of the prison on the island of San Domino, where homosexuals were confined during fascism.. (Source: Sperling & Kupfer)
is an Italian writer
