144 pages |Paperback

From one of Italys greatest writers, a stunning novel filled with shimmering, risky, darting observation (Colm Tibn)

After WWII, a small Italian town struggles to emerge from under the thumb of Fascism. With wit, tenderness, and irony, Elsa, the novels narrator, weaves a rich tapestry of provincial Italian life: two generations of neighbors and relatives, their gossip and shattered dreams, their heartbreaks and struggles to find happiness. Elsa wants to imagine a future for herself, free from the expectations and burdens of her towns history, but the weight of the past will always prove unbearable, insistently posing the question: Why has everything been ruined?