Jean-Pio is the middle child, sandwiched between Giulio, his younger brother, and Duccio, the eldest. Jean-Pio is eight years old in the spring of 1978, and his boyhood is spent travelling in an automobile across Europe with his father, Pado, and mother, Aga. His father is a scientist, who seems to spend his life attending medical conferences in Italy, France, Germany and England. Jean-Pio, stuck on the back seat of the family Volvo, watches the red petrol warning light to see if it comes on and concentrates on avoiding a crash. Meanwhile, his mother and father argue and quarrel continuously. Every spring they drive to Italy and spend two weeks with their Italian grandparents. As a study of a young boy with all his fears and feelings on the surface, it is a sad tale, beautifully crafted.
