A novel about second chances, which blends romance and melodrama, Dark Heart is strangely compulsive reading. Silvia Avallone’s heroine is both a deeply sensitive soul and fiercely independent. A paradoxical figure, she provokes both irritation and compassion. Her actions and reactions possess a mysterious, unfathomable quality that create an ambiguous atmosphere.
Lovers Are Never Losers
The peace of a remote, largely uninhabited hamlet in the Italian Alps is disrupted by the arrival of thirty-one-year-old redhead, Emilia. “The cowsheds were dilapidated and the Black Madonna in the roadside shrine had been disfigured by bad weather [. . .] The chestnut trees were full of nuts that nobody would collect. There were woods as far as the eye could see and bare rock protruded up beyond the trees.” Its two residents – an old painter Basilio who restores local churches, and Bruno, a teacher in the single-class local school – observe the young woman in her ripped jeans, Dr Martens and fluorescent green ski jacket as she settles into her late aunt Iole’s house.
Emilia has chosen to move to Sassaia against her father’s wishes, after sixteen years spent in a juvenile detention centre. This decision is an attempt to escape her past and rebuild her life. Bruno lives alone in the house opposite. He is intrigued by the skinny, oddly endearing young woman with freckles, and wonders what has driven her to settle in this remote corner of the world.
Unexpectedly, an intense relationship develops and love blossoms between them. But each has experienced a terrible tragedy when growing up, leaving an indelible mark that could be irrevocably destructive. Both have known evil and have chosen solitude to punish themselves for still being alive.
“We should never leave these woods . . . we should quit our jobs, plant ourselves a vegetable garden, get ourselves some chickens, live like my great grandparents did, dependent on chestnuts and polenta and cease all contact with civilisation and history.”
Survival At All Costs
Can you still love someone when you discover the extreme darkness that lies inside them? Is the past best kept secret? Can you redeem yourself?
The story unfolds through a series of flashbacks tracing what lies behind the traumas each of them has in endured, with the full details coming to light at the end. A very different take on the coming-of-age story, Bruno’s first-person reminiscences alternate with a conventional third-person narration.
Avallone’s skill lies in balancing suspense around the highly dramatic romance, and the gradual revelation of the terrible things each had experienced in the past. Emilia in particular did something so unspeakable it caused a public outcry, and in the press she had been labelled a witch. Whereas Bruno was the victim of a terrible incident, also reported in the press, but provoking a very different public reaction. Throughout, the darker side of the human soul is omnipresent, revealing the true complexity of human nature.
The descriptions of the intense, claustrophobic friendships between the teenage girls locked up in what is known as ‘The Convent’ (a juvenile penitentiary in Bologna) come across as very real and raw. There are no patronising attitudes or sensationalism. Avallone beautifully captures the microscopic details of daily life: the clunk of the keys, the routine of the guards; and highlights how inwardly vulnerable girls, trapped at the messy intersection of childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, cope with being disciplined and locked up.
“The vast majority of people who end up here shouldn’t be punished at all. For what? For the bad luck of being of having been born in a neighbourhood forgotten by God, or into families where slaps are thrown around like they mean nothing? If society brings you to the point of robbing, hitting, stealing, dealing, at fifteen, who’s responsible for that? Where were schools and social services, where were Italy and Europe, before the arrest? After is too easy.”
While it is more of a mainstream bestselling blockbuster than highbrow literature, Dark Heart is an engrossing, well-written read. The language strikes a balance, shifting seamlessly between poetic descriptions of nature, and a raw, harsh reality. It’s the kind of absorbing novel you want for a long train or plane ride; not literary fiction per se, but well worth your time. Make sure to pack it in your suitcase for a great summer read.
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