Miracle at St. Anna (Movie Tie-in)

Table of Contents

 

 

“McBride's descriptions of the almost unnavigable, myth-infested Apuane Alps—terrain as beautiful as it is unbearable—are seething poetry. His reconstruction of history—from Florentine politics and tribalism to marble quarrying and sculpture—are masterful. McBride's empathy for his fellow human is as affecting as the poetry of his prose. He makes his reader . . . feel the pain, terror, anguish, self-doubt of his characters. The book's central theme, its essence, is a celebration of the human capacity for love. Even in the course of virtually unbearable warfare and deprivation . . . people are able to touch each other, to care. That, McBride insists, is the enduring, immortal miracle of the human race, for all its imperfections.”
—The Baltimore Sun

 
“An outstanding novel about World War II inspired by the famous Buffalo Soldiers . . . so descriptive that I feel as though I'm an eyewitness to everything that happens emotionally on the frontline. The work provides us with a lesson not only about history but also about humanity and heroism.”
—The Dallas Morning News

 
“A miracle in its own right…McBride's prose is stunning. His ability to bring to life an actual historical event (the massacre at St. Anna and the famed Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd Division) is a gift. . . . McBride is able to make it work, with the understanding that true miracles happen within ourselves.”
—Rocky Mountain News

 
“Great-hearted, hopeful, and deeply imaginative.”
—Elle

 
“McBride has taken a bold leap into fiction. [He] goes deep into each character and takes you with him. His rich description of the landscape . . . transports you into this world. It's a great piece of storytelling. I cried. I laughed. I hated finishing the book.”
—The Albuquerque Tribune

 
“A compelling novel. McBride combines elements of history, mythology and magical realism to make this a story about the little things like life and forgiveness and shared experience.”

—
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“McBride has the enviable capacity to enlarge and complicate his readers' understanding of what it means to be human. McBride, who delivered a beautifully nuanced portrait of racial relations in his memoir,
The Color of Water
, brings the same humanity and understanding to his exploration of the complicated relationships between black soldiers and their white commanders in this novel.”
—BookPage

 
“
Miracle at St. Anna
powerfully examines the horrors of history and finds an unexpected wealth of goodness and compassion in the human soul.”

 
“The miracles of survival, of love born in extremity, and of inexplicable ‘luck' are the subjects of this first novel. [
Miracle at St. Anna
] is true to the stark realities of racial politics yet has an eye to justice and hope.”

—Library Journal
(starred review)

 
“Riveting.”
—Newsday

 
“Roars ahead kicking and screaming to the finish, lightning-lit with rage and tenderness.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

 
“A powerful and emotional novel of black American soldiers fighting the German army in the mountains of Italy. This is a refreshingly ambitious story of men facing the enemy in front and racial prejudice behind. . . . Through his sharply drawn characters, McBride exposes racism, guilt, courage, revenge and forgiveness, with the soldiers confronting their own fear and rage in surprisingly personal ways at the decisive moment in their lives.”
—Publishers Weekly

 
“A tale of hardship and horror as well as nobility and—yes—miracles, during the Italian campaign in World War II.”
—Philadelphia Daily News

 
“World War II provides a dazzling backdrop for James McBride's first novel.”
—Savoy

 
“A brutal and moving first novel…McBride's heart is on his sleeve, but these days it looks just right.”
—Kirkus Reviews

 
“
The Color of Water
[will] make you proud to be a member of the human race.”
—Mirabella

 
“Complex and moving . . . suffused with issues of race, religion and identity. Yet those issues, so much a part of their lives and stories, are not central. The triumph of the book—and their lives—is that race and religion are transcended in these interwoven histories by family love, the sheer force of a mother's will and her unshakable insistence that only two things really mattered: school and church. . . . It is her voice—unique, incisive, at once unsparing and ironic—that is dominant in this paired history, and its richest contribution. . . . The two stories, son's and mother's, beautifully juxtaposed, strike a graceful note at a time of racial polarization.”
—The New York Times Book Review

 
“As lively as a novel, a well-written, thoughtful contribution to the literature on race.”
—The Washington Post Book World

 
“James McBride evokes his childhood trek across the great racial divide with the kind of power and grace that touches and uplifts all hearts.”

—Bebe Moore Campbell

 
“It's a story about keeping on and about not being a victim. It's a love story. . . . Much hilarity is mixed in with much sadness. As McBride describes the chaotic life in a family of fourteen, you can almost feel the teasing, the yelling, and the love. . . . The book is a delight, a goading, and an inspiration, worth your time and a few tears.”
—The Sunday Denver Post

 
“Incredibly moving . . . The author, his mother, and his siblings come across as utterly unique, heroic, fascinating people.”—Jonathon Kozol

 
“Inspiring.”
—Glamour

“Told with humor and clear-eyed grace . . . a terrific story. . . . The sheer strength of spirit, pain and humor of McBride and his mother as they wrestled with different aspects of race and identity is vividly told. . . . I laughed and thrilled to her brood of twelve kids . . . I wish I'd known them. I'm glad James McBride wrote it all down so I can.”
—The Nation

 
“Poignant . . . a uniquely American coming-of-age.”
—The Miami Herald

 
“A refreshing portrait of family self-discovery…brilliantly intertwine[s] passages of the family's lives . . . Mr. McBride's search is less about racial turmoil than about how he realizes how blessed he is to have had a support system in the face of what could have been insurmountable obstacles.”
—The Dallas Morning News

 
“James McBride has combined the techniques of memoirist and the oral historian to illuminate a hidden corner of race relations. The author and his mother are two American originals.”—Susan Brownmiller

 
“Eye- and mind-opening about the eternal convolutions and paradoxes of race in America.”
—Chicago Tribune

 
“Remarkable . . . a page-turner, full of compassion, tremendous hardship and triumph . . . McBride's story is ultimately a celebration delivered with humor and pride.”
—Emerge

 
“A wonderful story that goes beyond race . . . richly detailed . . . earthy, honest.”
—The Baltimore Sun

 
“Deeply moving.”
—The Detroit News

 
“Engrossing.”
—The Cincinnati Enquirer

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This is a work of fiction inspired by historical events. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

 
Copyright © 2002 by James McBride

 
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's
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eISBN : 978-1-594-48360-8

1. World War, 1939-1945—Italy—Fiction. 2. African American soldiers—Fiction. 3. Americans—Italy—
Fiction. 4. Soldiers—Fiction. 5. Italy—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.C28M
813'.54—dc21 

Dedicated to
the men of the 92nd Infantry Division,
the people of Italy,
and the late Honorable James L. Watson
of Harlem, New York,
who epitomizes the best of both.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This book is a work of fiction inspired by real events and real people. It draws upon the individual and collective experiences of black soldiers who served in the Serchio Valley and Apuane Alps of Italy during World War II. I have taken certain liberties with names, places, and geography, but what follows is real. It happens a thousand times in a thousand places to a thousand people. Yet we still manage to love one another, despite our best efforts to the contrary.

PROLOGUE

THE POST OFFICE