Written in Italian and translated into English by the author. Plotless, and absent of a single proper noun. A novel told in small vignettes about a woman in her forties living on her own in an unknown city, an unknown country, but the reader gets the feeing it’s somewhere in Italy. She is achingly alone, yet acutely aware of and connected to her surroundings and the friends and strangers she observes. Every word counts. Every sentence is a joy to read. Brilliant literary fiction, simply and gently executed. I love this review from the Sunday Times: ‘If the antidote to a year of solitude and trauma is art, then this novel is the answer. It is superb.’ I couldn’t agree more.
— Olivia