Lisa Scottoline. Loyalty. Putnam, 2023.

For a shorter review see: Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lisa Scottoline is known for her legal suspense novels. I have heard her called a female Grisham. Loyalty is slightly different. Yes, one of the main characters is a lawyer, and the novel focuses on various instances of injustice, but the story is neither contemporary nor American.

Loyalty is set in nineteenth century Sicily, the first part in 1810, the second, fifteen years later. We follow in particular the story threads of five people. Their stories are separate and only slightly converge towards the end, but each is an important part of the whole.

We meet young Dante, five or six years old, and son of a prosperous middle class family in Palermo. He is kidnapped and taken to an insane asylum. The family and neighbors are afraid to say anything about it in fear that the child will be killed before a ransom is paid. Except that no one apparently ever asks for a ransom, and the boy grows into a man among the inmates of the asylum. The wardens at the asylum call him Monster, so he begins to believe that is what he is.

Gaetano is probably the most interesting and sympathetic character. He is a lawyer who learns of the abduction of Dante and some other young boys, and begins to wonder if the kidnappings are connected. In his spare time, he begins to investigate these disappearances. The local corrupt police are uninterested and give him a hard time for trying to solve the mysteries.

Gaetano is a member of the Beati Paoli, or society of St. Paul, an informal lay religious order dedicated to the study of and devotion to St. Paul. From time to time different members will quote from Paul’s epistles. According to notes from the author, the Beati Paoli was a secret society in Sicily but we know little about it today because of its secrecy.

At the time of the Reformation, there was an order in Italy known as the Order of St. Paul that, while remaining Catholic, sympathized with the Pauline message of salvation by faith, but they are not apparently related to this Sicilian group. Other members of the Beati Paoli also help with the investigation until Gaetano is imprisoned—possibly for getting too close to the truth.

We also meet the widower cheesemaker Alfredo. We learn that he is secret Jew. In 1492 Sicily was ruled by Spain, so when the Jews were expelled from Spain, they were also expelled from Sicily.

Those who remained either had to convert to Christianity or somehow mask their identity. As far as he knows, he is the only Jew on the whole island. Some of his customers in town claim they were miraculously healed by eating his cheese. Other vendors at the farmers’ market become jealous, so he is forced to go out of business.

Malfada gives birth to an albino baby girl. No one has ever seen such a person before, so virtually everyone thinks the baby is some kind of inhuman creature. Malfada’s husband kicks her out of the house, and she is forced to forage for a living for her and her daughter Lucia to survive.

And then there are the twin brothers Franco and Roberto. They work for one of the aristocratic landowners who raises delicious lemons. They figure that they should be making more money since they are doing all the work. Franco develops a protection racket and gains some followers among other farm workers.

This is seen as the beginning of the Mafia. The Sicilian word mafioso means “manly.” They take a loyalty oath to each other. We see a contrast between the oath taken by the mafiosos and the oath taken by the members of the Beati Paoli.

In each case there is a question of injustice and loyalty.

Dante’s kidnapping and incarceration is most clearly unjust. Gaetano tries to help and is himself treated unjustly. It is not until near the end of the book when the plots begin to overlap do we discover who was behind Dante’s fate and why.

Alfredo’s ancestors were treated unjustly, but so was he. He tries to convince everyone his cheese just ordinary goat cheese, but they won’t listen. Either he is a miracle-worker or a wizard.

Of course, today we can understand the superstitious accusations against Lucia and her mother are baseless. They manage to survive on the fringes of society, keeping Lucia out of sight.

One way or another all these people with the possible exception of Franco and Roberto have one way or another become outcasts through no fault of their own. Franco and Roberto, on the other hand, become prominent and wealthy because of their fierceness. For example, Franco learns that a certain Baron has become bankrupt and must sell his luxurious villa. Franco is told by another Baron that he would not be allowed to even bid on the property because he is not upper class. Let’s just say Franco ends up being the only bidder and getting it for a song.

Franco in some ways has succeeded. He becomes prominent and respected and feared. At the same time everyone seems to know that he has committed some crimes and gotten away with them. Can he be trusted? Is he telling the truth?

Franco and Roberto have things to hide. Lucia and her mother end up hiding from people in general. Dante and Gaetano are imprisoned in some manner. Alfredo also lives on the fringes after he loses nearly everything.

Still, the theme and title of the tale is Loyalty. We discover that Gaetano remains loyal to his cause. Dante develops some kind of relationship with the other inmates. Alfredo remains loyal to his religion as best he can.

Franco and Roberto, well, they have many loyal followers. Today we might call them a gang or cartel. They all expect loyalty from each other. In other Mafia stories we read of omertà, the vow of silence. The root of that word is the Latin for man—homo. Silence about one’s associates also suggests manliness just as the word mafioso did.

But who are the real men? The real humans?

While this is fiction, Scottoline tells in the afterword that the Mafia actually did start among workers in Sicilian lemon groves, that the asylum (inferno?) that Dante was taken to did exist, and that, generally, Sicily is a distinct place with its own culture. The book’s epigraph is from Goethe. He tells us, “Sicily is the clue to everything.”