The Hero's Way: Walking with Garibaldi from Rome to Ravenna
We are delighted to welcome Tim Parks, renowned British writer who has lived in Italy since 1981, to restart our Meet the Author series. Parks has written numerous novels and works of non-fiction, as well as journalism and translations from Italian. His novel Europa was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and he is a noted commentator on life in Italy.
The evening will be chaired by Simon Gammell (Director of the Institute), starting with a Book Club style discussion of Tim Parks’ latest book The Hero’s Way and then broadening into a wider chat with the author about his insights on life and times in Italy
The Hero's Way: Walking with Garibaldi from Rome to Ravenna: In the summer of 1849, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italy’s legendary revolutionary, was forced to abandon his defence of Rome. On the evening of July 2, riding alongside his pregnant wife, Anita, he led 4,000 men out of the city in an attempt to escape the besieging Austrian army. After two months of skirmishes and adventures, dodging enemy armies, he arrived in Ravenna with just 250 survivors.
Best-selling author Tim Parks, together with his partner Eleonora, set out in the blazing summer of 2019 to follow Garibaldi and Anita’s arduous journey through the heart of Italy. The Hero’s Way delivers a superb travelogue that captures Garibaldi’s determination, creativity, reckless courage, and profound belief. And he provides a fascinating portrait of Italy then and now, filled with unforgettable observations of Italian life and landscape, politics, and people.
The Hero’s Way is a delightful account of an enthusiast’s romp through history and his adopted country - Literary Review
The book is a dream for armchair globetrotters, intertwining travelogue with thought-provoking
contemplation on leadership, history, memory, politics, idealism and the true meaning of love of country. - New Statesman.
It’s as if his full involvement in this journey—which is an exploration of his own attachment to Italy as much as it is of Risorgimento history—has sharpened all his senses, enabling him to write of the landscape with heightened intensity. - Wall Street Journal
Copies of The Hero’s Way are available at Paperback Exchange in Florence, with a special 10% discount for British Institute patrons.
If you are in Florence and would like to attend the lecture in person at the British Institute Library, please register here or send an email to bif@britishinstitute.it .
The registration fee is 10 Euro per person.
To join this lecture with Zoom (no reservation necessary), simply click on this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87294970439?pwd=Y2drb2hTMFNPOEpydUJ4UWpRZzlEdz09 at 18:30 on Monday 6th March.