The Shape of Hunger

Power. Ambition. Love. Which is stronger?

In the hill town of Valdilume, Sicily, in the summer of 1912, life is ruled by tradition, hunger, and the kind of power that never needs to raise its voice.

Leandro Gagliano is young, intelligent, and restless. Born to the lower streets, he has spent his life watching other men decide who prospers and who goes without. When a respected and dangerous local power begins to see promise in him, Leandro is offered something he has wanted all his life: a faster road to money, influence, and a future beyond poverty.

But every road has a price.

Lucia Messina knows exactly what that world costs. Her family has already been scarred by violence, loss, and the kind of ambition that leaves women waiting with grief instead of hope. She loves Leandro, but she will not follow him into a life built on fear, silence, and compromise.

To choose power may mean losing her.

To choose Lucia means taking the slower road-hard work, sacrifice, and the uncertain dream of America.

Set against the heat, beauty, and tension of a small Sicilian town, The Shape of Hunger: A Sicilian Summer, 1912 is a sweeping historical novel of love, class, longing, loyalty, and escape. Rich with atmosphere, family conflict, village gossip, feast-day rituals, and the quiet danger beneath everyday life, it asks the question at the heart of every great love story:

What kind of man will he become?

Perfect for readers of:

• historical fiction set in Italy or Sicily
• literary romance with emotional depth
• family drama, class struggle, and old-world atmosphere
• stories of forbidden choices, ambition, and migration to America
• 272 pages with a map and legend