Miracle at St. Anna is a novel written by James McBride. Released in 2001, it is McBride's debut novel and recounts the adventures of a Black battalion in World War II's Italian theatre.
Characters[]
- Sam Train - a somewhat block-headed member of Company G
- Bishop Cummings - a somewhat abrasive member of Company G
- Hector Negron - the Puerto Rican member of Company G
- Aubrey Stamps - the de facto commander of Company G
- Angelo - a young boy found by Company G
- Peppi "Black Butterfly" Grotta - a partisan rebel
- Ludovico - a farmer living in St. Anna
- Renata - the daughter of Ludovico
- Ettora - a witch living in St. Anna
- Colonel Jack Driscoll - an Allied colonel
- Eugenio
- Albert Kesselring
- General Allman
- Second Lieutenant Birdsong
- Captain Rudden
- First Lieutenant Wells
- Captain Nokes
- General Parks
- Rodolfo - a partisan who pretends to be a priest and betrays the partisans for the Nazis
- Tim Boyle
- Huggs - Sam Train's commander
Publisher's summary[]
James McBride's powerful memoir, The Color of Water, was a groundbreaking literary phenomenon that transcended racial and religious boundaries, garnering unprecedented acclaim and topping bestseller lists for more than two years. Now McBride turns his extraordinary gift for storytelling to fiction - in a universal tale of courage and redemption inspired by a little-known historical event. In Miracle at St. Anna, toward the end of World War II, four Buffalo Soldiers from the army's N*gro 92nd Division find themselves separated from their unit and behind enemy lines. Risking their lives for a country in which they are treated with less respect than the enemy they are fighting, they discover humanity in the small Tuscan village of St. Anna di Stazzema - in the peasants who shelter them, in the unspoken affection of an orphaned child, in a newfound faith in fellow man. And even in the face of unspeakable tragedy, they - and we - learn to see the small miracles of life.
Plot[]
Prologue: The Post Office[]
A World War II veteran named Hector Negron shoots a man in the face after seeing his diamond ring. A journalist named Tim Boyle (seeking to save his job) follows the cops investigating the case and discovers that a statue head hidden in Negron's flat comes from a Tuscan bridge. The report on the story leads an unnamed man in Italy to frantically run in the street, seemingly seeking to run away from life itself.
Chapter 1: Invisible[]
As the Allies trek through Italy, a black soldier named Sam Train feels "invisible" for the first time. He sees his commander (a Northern black man named Huggs) die but his "invisibility" (which he believes is tied to a statue head) ends once he is shot in the head. Though he nearly dies, he is saved by a black soldier named Bishop.
Chapter 2: Chocolate Giant[]
On a farm in Sicily a young boy with amnesia (who feels like his memories are "shards of glass in a wind tunnel") is cared to by an old man. One day, as German soldiers descend on the barn and shell it, the boy plays with his imaginary friend Arturo. Once inside a barn, the boy is covered in rubble. He is lifted out of the rubble by Train - who the boy thinks is a man made out of chocolate, as he has never seen a black person. Once out of the rubble, the boy licks Train before passing out.
Chapter 3: The Choice[]
After getting the boy out of harm's way, Train (cut off from the rest of his company) tries to shut up the boy with chocolate. This fails. He is soon found by a German soldier but shoots the soldier almost immediately. He soon finds that he's dropped the statue head. Train grabs the statue head and at first abandons the boy but (while feeling "invisible") runs back for the boy.
Train is watched over by other members of his company, Company G (including Bishop Cummings, the Puerto Rican Hector Negron, and Aubrey Stamps, the de facto commander of the company). Company G is almost completely without artillery support due to (in the mind of Stamps) internal racism. Despite this (and the three men believing that Train is an idiot), Stamps follows Train. Bishop and Hector follow closely behind.
Chapter 4: The Mountain of the Sleeping Man[]
Nearby Company G, the higher-ups of the 92nd Division discover that the Nazis intend to drop a couple regiments of paratroopers into the mountains near the current location of Company G (the Serchio Valley). One colonel (Driscoll) learns more about this after an Italian priest is interrogated and learns that Company G is running right into the area where the Nazis intend to drop their paratroopers.
Chapter 5: The Statue Head[]
Nearly a half-millennium before the Second World War, a group of Italian workers chiseled out a block of marble out of the side of a mountain - with one of the workers losing his arm in the process - so that a French sculptor could shape the marble into one of the four statues in a Florentine bridge. The statue (the Primavera) was held in high regard but the process of building the statue bankrupted the sculptor and led to him committing murder (throwing the husband of his daughter off of a cliff) and suicide by choking on a towel.
In the immediate aftermath, the French government tried to buy the cliff but the Florentines (using the fact that the original marble block had cleaved someone's arm off to argue that "Florentine blood had been spilled for it") managed to keep the statue. Up until World War II, the statue managed to survive all political changes in Florence - even surviving the destruction of the bridge and the three other statues by the Nazis - until it was accidentally shelled by a tired Nazi soldier, causing the statue to be decapitated and its head to fall in the hands of Sam Train.
Chapter 6: The Power[]
Stamps finds Train in a barn with the unconscious kid and his statue head. Stamps tries to get Train to come with him, but Train refuses (claiming that he doesn't "want to listen to the white man" but most likely because of shock after seeing Huggs being killed) even after Bishop joins in. Train also reveals that he plans to walk to the Mountain of the Sleeping Man.
After dreaming of the figure of the Primavera and giving his imaginary friend a piece of chocolate, the kid puts his hands around Train's head. After looking into the kid's eyes, Train sees a degree of humanity he has never seen in the face of a white person never before. Train declares that the kid has the touch of Jesus and begins believing that he is an angel.
Chapter 7: The Church[]
After being forced to flee by the Germans, the soldiers trudge their way through the woods of Italy - with Train trying to get someone to look over the kid - until they reach a church. While walking to the church, Train sees a bust of St. Anna and becomes enraptured in its sight - gaining miraculous knowledge and for a brief moment touching Bishop before Bishop swats away Train's hand. Shortly after this, the soldiers sight a crazed and decrepit-looking Italian man who rants nigh-incoherently before screeching as the church bell rings out and the soldiers flee.
Chapter 8: A Sign[]
In the nearby village of Bornacchi, an old man named Ludovico meets with a "witch" named Ettora to discover if his daughter (Renata)'s husband will return home. Ludovico believes that he has been cursed by Ettora with opulence (with his home filling with multiplying rabbits and becoming a small oasis of good fortune in the village, something which could bring the attention of the Nazis) for refusing to date her several decades ago. Before Ludovico can voice these feelings, Company G enters into their home. They briefly talk with the occupants and then leave the kid behind with them while they find lodging in the house of the man they saw screaming and ranting and the church (whose name is Eugenio).
Chapter 9: The Black Butterfly[]
As the 501st move through Italy, a group of partisan rebels fight against the Nazis. One of these rebels (a young and presumably still-pregnant woman named Gabriella Tornatti) is tortured in an extremely brutal way by the Nazis after refusing to give information. Enraged by this, another rebel (Peppi Grotta, who took the nickname "Black Butterfly" to protect his family) enacts his revenge on the Nazi general.
First he claims that he will attack the Nazis with an army to draw them out and then, after some time following them, captures the general who tortured Gabriella and tortures him in the same way - placing his body up as the sun sets twice (a somewhat common occurrence in the mountains). A Nazi spy (who reported Gabriella) reports this but the body vanishes before it can be found and none of the villagers in the area tell anything about the dead general. As such, the spy is thrown into a jail and is killed by his fellow prisoners.
Chapter 10: Peppi[]
As Company G moves through Italy, a Nazi sympathizer causes the deaths of hundreds of people in the St. Anna region by pretending to be a partisan. Seeking redemption, Peppi travels with his few allies (as the Nazis have gotten his armies to betray him using a bag of salt) to Bornacchi. Peppi suspects that Ludovico is the sympathizer but has no actual proof. As such, he lays in wait and spies him being visited by Company G.
Chapter 11: Invisible Castle[]
The boy wakes up from a fever dream filled with rabbits to see one of Ludovico's rabbits emerging from under the floorboards. As the occupants of the house talk about the boy and the soldiers (who some believe are actually Gurkhas), the boy's imaginary friend Arturo discusses Sam Train's "invisible castle" made of candy.
Company G soon returns to Ludovico's house and discusses the route through the mountains. Ludovico is reluctant to give him help but his daughter agrees to accompany them (possibly to spite her father). As this goes on, Train feeds the boy sulfur powder and briefly talks with him. He then falls through the floorboards into the rabbits' den.
Chapter 12: Highway to Heaven[]
Company G is able to restore radio contact with Nokes, who orders them to capture a German prisoner. These orders lead to Bishop, Hector, and Stamps talking at length about their position in the War and the white man's world.
Chapter 13: The Town[]
As Bishop cooks a rabbit, they boy begins to recover from his illness. By Christmastime, the boy largely recovers from the illness and Company G settle into life in the village, although they still find something off about the villagers.
Chapter 14: The German[]
The next day, Stamps sights a young German soldier being led by the partisans. Company G and the partisans argue over the prisoner while watched by the villagers (who seemingly wish to kill the soldier as retribution). They bring the soldier into Ludovico's house to eat. During this, Peppi points his rifle at the soldier, making him burst into tears. This also makes the boy cry, which irks Train. Members of Company G and some of the partisans step out into the snow to discuss the prisoner.
Chapter 15: Run[]
From the partisans, Company G learns about the village massacre. They also regain radio contact with the base and learn that Nokes is making his way towards the village and of the planned German march. Stamps orders the villagers to evacuate just as the Germans begin shelling the village. To protect the prisoner, he is brought back inside of Ludovico's house.
Later, Train and Hector talk to the boy (who they learn is named Angelo) and learn he met the prisoner before meeting Train and that the prisoner told him to run.
Chapter 16: Sending Nokes[]
Captain Driscoll sends Nokes to Bornacchi alongside a small platoon of soldiers. Shortly after this, he receives a telegram about the death of General Allman's son in combat. The extremely stern Allman briefly sheds tears over this. As Driscoll leaves, he sees Nokes cowardly trying to stall leaving from the base.
Chapter 17: Hector[]
As Company G tries to find a route out of the village, Stamps sends Rodolfo to scout out the nearby mountains. While doing this, Rodolfo spots a massive army of Nazis advancing but lies and says that he saw nothing. Stamps talks with Renata, with whom he is infatuated, and sends Hector with the prisoner and Rodolfo to look for Nazis. During this, Rodolfo knifes Hector - taking off a part of his ear - and kills the prisoner.
Chapter 18: Betrayal[]
While camped near the village, Peppi realizes that Rodolfo has betrayed him for the promised Nazi reward. Once Rodolfo returns, Peppi confronts him while sticking a rifle into his mouth. Rodolfo confesses and runs into the woods. Instead of shooting at him, Peppi lets him run into the wilderness.
Chapter 19: The Massacre Revealed[]
From Angelo and Ettora, Hector and Stamps learn the full story of the massacre - that it was caused by Rodolfo in an attempt to get the Nazis to capture Peppi and that Angelo's parents were killed in the massacre.
Later, Stamps finds Bishop after he had sex with Renata. The two briefly argue before engaging in a full-blown fistfight. Their fight is broken up by Hector, who reveals that Nokes has arrived.
Chapter 20: Nokes Arrives[]
A rather agitated Nokes arrives at Bornacchi and tries to get Company G to leave. Train refuses as he wants to be Angelo's father - leading to Nokes screaming at him (which angers Train as this is in front of Angelo). Nokes then leaves to collect the prisoner and (in a near-insane state) again tries to separate Train and Angelo using Birdsong as a cats'-paw. This leads to Train nearly strangling Birdsong to death and Nokes fleeing Bornacchi without Company G. As he drives out, his jeep is shot by German artillery and he dies. Ettora is also killed by shrapnel and Hector has to carry Ludovico on his back.
Chapter 21: The Stand[]
As the Germans shell the village, Sam Train briefly talks to Angelo about heaven before Angelo seemingly dies in his arms. Train is then shot and killed by a machine-gun, asking Bishop to take care of Angelo with his dying words. Stamps sacrifices himself to destroy the machine gun and Bishop is killed (with his last thoughts being about the rapturous knowledge within the bust of St. Anna) by being shot in the back while trying to carry Angelo's body.
The boy briefly awakens and, after talking with Arturo, runs with him through Bornacchi.
Epilogue: The Last Miracle[]
Rodolfo manages to survive the shelling of Bornacchi (escaping the fate of Renata, who is presumably killed by machine-gun fire and Ludovico, who dies of grief) and, after killing Peppi, travels to America using wealth gained from the Nazis. This wealth is worthless in America and he finds himself distant from his new family and haunted by guilt-driven visions before he is shot dead by Hector (tying the Epilogue to the Prologue) in the 80s.
Hector (who was given the Silver Star for bravery by Jack Driscoll) is nearly thrown into an asylum but is bailed out by a mysterious rich man who ships Hector (along with the statue head) to the Seychelles. In the Seychelles, it is revealed that the man is actually Angelo - who survived the shelling and became a rich inventor. After this, the two embrace each other.
Worldbuilding[]
- The "Mountain of the Sleeping Man" is a mountain in the Serchio Valley. Local legends hold that it is actually the jilted lover of a young woman.
- During battles in La Spezia, the Nazis use a ship's cannon in a flatbed truck to shoot at Allied forces.
See also[]
Sources[]
- Goodreads