Run for Your Life

Run for Your Life by Silvana Gandolfi is a young adult thriller about two boys living in Italy whose lives have been torn apart by the challenges and struggles of their parents. The first boy, Santino, struggles to do the right thing after his family is torn apart by their involvement in the mafia. The second boy, Lucio, struggles to care for his sick mother and younger sister. The strange disappearance of Lucio's sick mother causes the stories of the two boys to weave together in strange and explosive ways. Originally written in Italian, the book was translated into English by Lynne Sharon Schwartz.

The book opens with the story of young Santino, who is only five years old. He and his family live in Palermo, Sicily – a region of southern Italy that is stunning in its landscape and dominated by the powerful Sicilian mafia. Santino's first communion is approaching, and his father and grandfather want to throw him a party that he will remember. Unfortunately, the family has little money to pay for the party. In order to keep up their reputation and make young Santino happy, Santino's father and grandfather decide to steal some items to sell to get the money they need. However, stealing in Sicily is dangerous work, and soon the men realize that they have crossed a Sicilian mafia member.

In retribution, the mafia comes down hard on Santino's father and grandfather. Santino is present when the men are both shot in cold blood; Santino is shot, too, but he manages to hide despite the terrible pain of his injury to save himself from further harm. The mafia men leave the scene, and Santino is rescued. Reeling from the deaths of his beloved father and grandfather, Santino is left with an even more complicated decision – does he snitch on the mafia men who murdered his own family, and risk his own life, or does he choose to allow his loved ones to die in vain in order to uphold Omerta, the vow of silence.



Meanwhile, in the northern city of Livorno, protagonist Lucio is having his own problems. Twelve-year-old Lucio has been left with the task of caring for his young sister, Ilaria, while his mother is housebound due to a mysterious illness. Though Lucio dreams of the freedom to set sail on the wide, blue Mediterranean waters, he is trapped at home, listening to his mother regale him with her theories that she has been cursed by an evil witch. Lucio and his mother pray for a cure for her illness, but no salvation comes.

Things become even stranger for Lucio when his mother suddenly disappears, and he receives a text message from an unknown number that reads only: “Come to Palermo. Mamma is dying.” Believing that his mother has been kidnapped, Lucio quickly packs, grabs his younger sister Ilaria, and the two set out on a journey to Sicily to find and rescue the only parent they have left.

In Palermo, the stories of Lucio and Santino converge, to surprising effect. Together, the boys struggle to do the right thing despite the complexities and immoralities of the adult world in which they live. With little guidance and many struggles, the boys find solace in each other, and in their own moral code, which guides them toward the righteous path.



Run for Your Life is based on the real story of a five-year-old young boy, who watched his father and grandfather die at the hands of the Sicilian Mafia. Gandolfi is good friends with the local magistrate who convinced the boy to testify against the men who murdered his family, nearly killing him in the process. After the trial, the boy and his mother were put into a witness protection program and sent to the mainland of northern Italy under assumed names.

Silvana Gandolfi, one of Italy's most widely translated authors, has written a number of acclaimed books for children, including Aldabra and The Tortoise Who Loved Shakespeare. Lynne Sharon Schwartz translated both of those novels into English. Gandolfi, who lives in Rome, has received a number of awards for her work, including a nomination for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and an Andersen Prize, Italy's most significant prize for children's literature.