Mrs Elliott's Recommended Read - April

Vango: Between Sky and Earth by Timothee de Fombelle

This book is a gripping mystery-adventure set in the 1930s interwar period about a character desperately searching for his identity. 

Raised by a strange nanny in Sicily, Vango grows up with one friend, a priest Zefiro, who lives in a monastery hidden from sight. On reaching adulthood, Vango decides to follow in Zefiro's steps, but just as he is about to take his holy orders at Notre Dame in Paris, he is falsely accused of a crime and must go on the run. 

This is a breathless and highly cinematic story that follows Vango travelling by Zeppelin across Europe from Stromboli to Nazi Germany, from Scotland to the Soviet Union, climbing the rooftops of Paris, crossing the paths of arms traffickers, crooked policemen, Russian spies and even Stalin.

I really enjoyed this book.  It is a genuinely gripping read with characters that you root for and a protagonist who you are willing to succeed.  Plot and character are revealed little by little like lots of threads that slowly start to weave themselves together until the final climactic end.  

If you love mystery and intrigue, then this is definitely for you. 

I believe there’s a sequel.  It’s on my ‘Must Buy’ list. 
 

Mrs Elliott
English Teacher

AR Book Level:
ZPD: 5.4 (Purple)