Review: The Art of Waiting is a tale of war and joy

A tale of war and peace, The Art Of Waiting has on the jacket, a picture of a butterfly encircled by barbed wire expressing cruelty and compassion.

Set during the 1940s Aldo, a young Italian, is sent to Russia where he suffers the savagery of war and the inhumanity of prison in the freezing steppes.

One day in 1943 Aldo gazes through the wire when Katerina, ‘an angel in the snow’ appears; she offers him a crust of bread and he gives her a fish carved by him. The memory of this fairytale meeting and the brief time spent together will sustain them throughout their long years of privation and separation.

Christopher Jory’s narrative focus is divided between them. He gives us their lives before and after the war in Italy and in Russia and explores the way their families are affected by the arc of history. We meet Aldo in the trattoria in Venice run by his parents. One weekend Aldo, his father Luca and some friends and colleagues set off to shoot ‘the biggest boar you’ve seen’. Luca is killed. Aldo is accused. Was this just ‘a tragic accident? Aldo swears someone else pulled the trigger. He will find the guilty one and avenge the death of his father. Jory plumbs the depths of the human heart. Aldo is a complex hero, obsessive, loyal and fiery.

Rare moments of happiness are overwhelmed by deceit and loneliness. Jory’s locations, beautiful and evocative as they are, evoke the underlying feelings and emotions of many of his characters. When Aldo comes home from war and imprisonment he expects a hero’s welcome. His hopes are dashed: his family, his home and restaurant are gone; he sails to the small island of Burano to find shelter in his grandfather’s house only to discover it has been abandoned and is inhabited by goats. We also have moments of fulfilment. Jory who spent part of his early years in Oxford gives us a moving and evocative story shot through with the fragility of life.

The Art of Waiting, by Christopher Jory, Polygon, £12.99