The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli is a historical fiction novel about a wealthy young man in 12th century Messina Sicily who loses his fortune in a large tidal wave. The man’s name is Don Giovanni and his whole life he has been wealthy up to this point. An earthquake that was unusually powerful struck Sicily and caused a volcanic eruption as well as a tidal wave to form which destroyed more than half of Messina and all of Giovanni’s livestock. Being that Giovanni was in debt and his livestock was dead a man by the name of Don Alfinu, who he was in debt to, took all of his belongings and his house as payment. With nothing to his name Giovanni tries to leave town to make money. That was the start of the book and was promising. There was an
