What Hell Is Not

Written by Alessandro D'Avenia

Narrated by Danny Campbell

A heart-rending story of deprivation and resilience in mafia-run Palermo

‘Take away love and you will have hell, you used to say to me, Don Pino. Give love and you will have what hell is not.’

Sicily, 1993. Fear rules the streets of Palermo. Teenage boys patrol the narrow streets armed with AK-47’s, marking out the territory of their mafia bosses. This is what hell is.

Federico, a privileged local boy, is asked by his teacher, Don Pino, to help out at the youth club he runs in one of the most destitute areas of the city. A tangle of alleys controlled by men with nicknames like the Hunter, it is also where kids like Francesco, Lucia, and Totò never give up hope for a different life. Over that long hot summer, far removed from his familiar surroundings, a new world opens up for Federico, but when Don Pino is murdered, the future of the kids is entrusted to his young hands.

Based on real events, What Hell is Not is a heartrending story of deprivation and resilience that ultimately demonstrates the transformative power of small acts of love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Translator: Jeremy Parzen
• Release date: Jan 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781721364367

Alessandro D'Avenia

Alessandro D’Avenia holds a PhD in Classical Literature, and teaches Ancient Greek, Latin and Literature at a high school in Milan. White as Silence, Red as Song was his first novel,published in Italy in 2010. It sold a million copies in Italy, has been translated into over twenty languages and was released as a film in 2012. Alessandro has since published four more books, the latest of which, Every Story is a Love Story, was published in October 2017.

Reviews for What Hell Is Not

[hubblegal-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“Take away love and you will have hell. Give love and you will have what hell is not.” Father PinoIn Palermo, Sicily in 1993, violence runs rampant in the Brancaccio section. Mafia bosses incite fear into the hearts of the teenage boys there. That fear is what causes these young teenage boys to carry guns as they begin to test their own violent tendencies. One teenager, Federico, is more privileged than some in Palermo. He is a lover of words and has been nicknamed “Poet”. His teacher, Don Pino, has asked him to help him at the youth club. A whole new world opens up for Federico as he gets to know what some of these young boys face each day. When Don Pino is murdered by the mafia, it is left to the young Federico to continue his loving work.This book is based on the real life of Giuseppe Puglisi, which makes the story even more poignant. I can’t help but think of the author as being the teenage boy, Federico, since they both have the heart of a poet. Each short chapter of this book is a work of poetic beauty, some showing the transformative power of love and some showing the devastation that hate brings into the world. The author’s poetic wording is in sharp contrast to the ugliness of some of the events in the book, which makes the horror seem even more horrific. It’s not an easy book to read. First, there are some hard-to-read violent parts, though the author does not resort to using gore to shock his readers. Also the writing style of the author took me some time to get used to and may not be to every reader’s taste. He doesn’t always make it clear who’s speaking and because his writing is so poetic, I didn’t always understand what he was trying to say. It was quite a slow read due to that. But there are moments of beauty in his writing that make the effort well worth it.Recommended.This book was given to me by the publicist in return for an honest review.