Other People's Children

To be published in May 2026

Tommaso is just about making it work: travelling abroad for his job, helping his girlfriend with her two unruly sons, and keeping up with the eccentricities of his Italian grandmother, Alma. But as Alma grows increasingly troubled by strange and unsettling memories, Tommaso realises that there is much in her past that he doesn't know. And the more he discovers, the more it seems that the secrets she has guarded for so long might not only overwhelm her, but upend his own precariously balanced life too.

Reaching back to the tumultuous days of the Italian resistance during the Second World War and into the domestic chaos of modern life, this is a story of the past's long shadow, and the families we have and those we make.

Praise for OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN:

"Like the best Italian agrodolce, Ben Faccini’s writing leaves the reader uncertain whether what they are enjoying is sweet or acerbic. He writes brilliantly about childhood and childishness and, in this instance, about the passions and fears of the very old (…)  This should be compulsory reading not just for parents everywhere but for anyone convinced that the challenge of migration ends with the arrival in a place of safety"

- Patrick Gale

"This story about the impact of history on human lives is remarkably sensitively told"

- Jung Chang

"Luminous and compelling... Shines a devastating spotlight on the treatment of Italians in the UK during WWII, and on its intergenerational legacy. A story about the absorption of loss, the fragility of memory, and ultimately, the power of love"

-- Alba Arikha, author of Two Hours and Where to Find Me