The Book of Hidden Things

April 9, 2018
Renowned Italian author Dimitri’s beautiful first novel written in English, about a group of friends who have a pact to meet annually in their small Italian hometown, is an evocative meditation on friendship, adulthood, and the liminal spaces that lie just outside human perception. Tony, a surgeon; Mauro, a lawyer; and Fabio, a fashion photographer, show up to their meeting place in Casalfranco, but Art, who formed the pact 17 years before, never arrives. A search of his home uncovers disturbing items, including a very weird book by Art entitled The Book of Hidden Things: A Field Guide, and the friends discover that Art has supposedly healed a young girl who had cancer and is now being held by the local mafia. Each of the friends wants to escape the perceived bonds of his life, and Art’s book offers a pathway to a place of unbelievable bliss and little responsibility, the realm of the Hidden Things. But when the companions learn the price of entry, they struggle to confront their own demons and decide whether the promised joys are worth the cost. Dimitri’s beautifully written tale, steeped in nostalgia, folklore, and religion, will enthrall and terrify readers.

May 1, 2018
Three men investigate the increasingly strange circumstances surrounding their old friend's disappearance from a small Italian town.Mauro, Tony, Fabio, and Art have been friends since their school days in a southern Italian village. When Art, their ringleader, suggests that they return each year on the same date to meet up, they agree, and for 17 years they keep their promise. But when Art is a no-show, memories quickly surface of a bizarre incident from their teen years when he wandered into an olive grove and vanished for seven days. Though Art returned, he was somehow altered, and the town was torn apart by rumors. Dimitri--a well-known fantasy author in Italy who is making his English-language debut here--alternates the story from the perspectives of lawyer and family man Mauro; Tony, a surgeon whose homosexuality makes him an outsider in the strict Catholic village; and caddish fashion photographer Fabio. The reader gets a bird's eye view of the secrets the men keep from each other, both about their complicated presents and their different understandings of Art's first disappearance years ago. Is the Mafia involved? The local priest? The mentally ill woman Art was seeing? What of the rumor that Art healed a terminally ill girl before his latest vanishing? And how is his absence tied in to an odd manuscript he was writing called The Book of Hidden Things? In lesser hands, this blend of detective story, organized crime thriller, and supernatural investigation would feel like a grab bag of plot devices, but Dimitri has created a thrilling spectacle that also manages to point poignantly at the way the landscapes we grow up in shape us in ways even beyond our understanding.A deeply felt look at the idea of home, clothed as a popcornworthy page-turner.

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Starred review from June 1, 2018
Four childhood friends make a pact to meet in their home village every year on the same date. Fabio, a photographer, lawyer Marco, and Tony, a doctor, arrive as usual. When Art, the originator of the pact, doesn't show, the friends worry. When they search his empty house and find marijuana, a jumble of books, and rotting food, they worry even further. They report his disappearance to the Carabinieri, who refuse to investigate because Art has ties to Sacra Corona Unita, the local mafia. The friends decide to investigate on their own, all the while wondering if Art's recent disappearance is tied to a lost week when he was a teenager. Art's trail leads to a book, The Book of Hidden Things: A Field Guide, written by Art about that missing week. In the book, Art claims that supernatural creatures, the hidden things, were responsible for his disappearance. Making his debut writing in English, Italian author Dimitri crafts a rich, emotional tale that is less about hidden supernatural things and more about the things we hide from our friends and from ourselves. Perfect for book discussion groups to devour and debate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)