THE HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE NIGHT

by Catherine Banner

Thanks to my friend Pam I am now a member of the Cincinnati Book Bus Book Club.  Owner Melanie Moore sells books from a 1962 Volkswagen pickup truck (as well as from a store).  She takes all the profits from The Bus and buys new children’s books for low-income area schools and organizations to enable all children access to books.  For those of us who don’t live near Cincinnati, she has a monthly bookclub, where she selects and mails one book per month, beautifully wrapped with a handmade bookmark and a teabag.   Sometimes there is a zoom bookclub meeting where you’re able to discuss the book with other readers.  Not only do I receive curated book selections from this wonderful bookstore owner, but they are delivered to my door each month, all while doing good for others.  I encourage you to look into it if you think it sounds interesting.

This month’s selection for The Book Bus Book Club is The House at the Edge of Night.   Banner has written a gorgeous novel with an incredible sense of place.  Set on a small island off the east coast of Sicily, Banner tells the family saga of the Esposito family over four generations. Amadeo first comes to the island of Castellamare to practice as a doctor before the First World War.  He falls in love with the tiny village and its inhabitants and feels truly at home for the first time in his life.  When one of the island’s residents, who calls himself The Count, decides Amadeo shouldn’t be the island’s doctor any more, Amadeo buys and restores The House at the Edge of Night, a house and bar that has been closed for decades.  When Amadeo opens the bar, it is the only one on the island and much of the rest of the book takes place within its walls.  Amadeo marries a local woman, Pina, and they raise their four children in The House on Castellamare.  Banner fills the book with enchanting tales of loves that are destined (and those that are not), village intrigue and idle gossip, long-held mystical beliefs and the realities of war and modernization.  I guarantee it will transport you from whatever January melancholy you may be feeling straight to the warm, flower-scented island of Castellamare.

The House at the Edge of Night was published in 2016, but I had never heard of it—or of Catherine Banner.  How wonderful to have this magical tale delivered to my door.  If you’re looking for an epic novel that will “take you away,” I encourage you to plunge into this beautiful, engaging narrative.  You’ll thank me.  (Liz)