For Arturo Bandini, oldest son of Italian immigrants living in small-town Colorado during the Great Depression, the winter proves harsh. When his father seemingly abandons his family, Arturo is left to pick up the pieces, even as turmoil rages within him.With its evocative account of grinding poverty, tragic love affairs and tumultuous adolescence, this first novel from the Bandini quartet is a much-neglected masterpiece of modern American literature.