Skip to main content
The Top Book List
Cover of Run for Your Life by Silvana Gandolfi

Book · Middle Grade

Run for Your Life

written by Silvana Gandolfi, translated by Lynne Sharon Schwartz

275 pages · 2018

Honors

Get the book

We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. It never affects which books we recommend. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

About the book

A talented young runner, Santino, lives in Palermo, Sicily - a beautiful region of Italy that's dominated by the Mafia. With Santino's first communion approaching, his father and grandfather carry out a theft to pay for the party - but they steal from the wrong people. A young, cocky, Mafioso summons them to a meeting, and they bring the boy. As Santino wanders off into the old abandoned neighborhood, he hears shots and runs back to see two armed men - and his father and grandfather slumped over in the car. The boy barely escapes with his life. Now, he's left with a choice: cooperate with police and be a "rat," or maintain Omertá: the code of silence. Twelve-year-old Lucio lives in the northern Italian city of Livorno and dreams of sailing when not taking care of his young sister, Ilaria, and his sick mother, who is convinced that a witch has cursed her. One day, Lucio's mother goes missing and he receives a mysterious text: "Come to Palermo. Mamma is dying." Panicked, Lucio grabs Ilaria and rushes to Sicily, where Lucio's and Santino's stories converge with explosive results.

For parents

No age or grade range recorded.

Grade ranges are editorial guidance. Every reader is different.

No content notes recorded.