Book Review - M: Son of the Century by Antonio Scurati

 M: Son of the Century by Antonio Scurati, translated by Anne Milano Appel

London: Harper, 2021 (original Italian publication 2018)    ISBN 9780062956118

Wow. What a book! The first book in a five-part series of novels that deals with the political life of Benito Mussolini, M: Son of the Century is a massively gripping (as well as being, at over 700 pages, simply massive) description of Mussolini's rise to power, beginning with the first meeting of the fascists, and concluding with him gaining a total grip over parliament after the murder of Giacomo Matteotti in 1924.

While this is a novel, it has a very documentary feel, with the short chapters evoking real events, with interspersed newspaper reports, telegrams and other archival material. The effect is a little like a kaleidoscope, each chapter (from a different character's viewpoint) adding a piece to the chaotic picture that was Italy after World War One, and on into the 1920s.

 And chaotic it was - Scurati evokes the turmoil of a country that "won" the war but gained no dividend from the peace that followed. Veterans particularly were disaffected, as socialism gained ground - Mussolini had been a high ranking socialist before the War, but left precisely because they didn't support it. 

The violence of the rise of Fascism, the ineffectiveness and fatal factionalism of the Socialists, and Mussolini's constant shifting of his alliances and strategies are what drives this book forward. The internecine power plays within the Fascists, especially when power beckoned, and Mussolini's struggle to control his party are especially well described. The characters of the main protagonists are also well drawn; not only the Fascists such as Mussolini himself, but also Balbo, Dumini, Marinetti and Rossi, but also Fascism's political opponents such as Bombacci, Turati, Croce, Salandra and of course Matteotti. Mussolini's lover Margherita Sarfatti is a major character in the novel - mentor and perhaps even eminince grise in the early part of the novel, but discarded once Mussolini ascends to the Prime Ministership, she becomes somewhat of a tragic figure, as does Rachele, Mussolini's wife, who is not much more than a cipher in the book.

If you are interested in Italian history and literature, I can recommend this book - there is also an Italian television mini-series that is worth catching up with.

Cheers for now, from

A View Over the Bell