The Brittle Age, by Donatella Di Pietrantonio
Translated by Ann Goldstein Review by Rob Spence In the mountainous rural region of Abruzzo, a local community is blighted by an event of brutal savagery. Thirty years later, its…
A Man of Few Words by Carlo Greppi
Translated by Howard Curtis Review by Karen Langley, 6 Mar 2025 Italian author and chemist Primo Levi is possibly one of the best-known commentators on the Holocaust; he began writing…
Abandonment by Erminia Dell’Oro
Translated by Oonagh Stransky Review by Annabel Such is my woeful lack of knowledge of African history, I had no idea that Eritrea had been colonized by Italy in the…
The House on the Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone
Translated by Oonagh Stransky Review by Rob Spence The British are not receptive to literature in translation. Sure, any decent bookshop will have a smattering of foreign classics – Proust,…
Tell Me About it by Sacha Naspini
Translated by Clarissa Botsford Review by Annabel This novella, first published in Italian in 2020, has a mere 120 pages, yet there is a full life between its covers. On…
In the Margins by Elena Ferrante
Translated by Ann Goldstein Review by Anna Hollingsworth There’s something fascinating about writers writing about, well, writing and reading. I care more about writers’ preferred pens and books on their…
Trust, by Domenico Starnone
Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davis My initial recommendation for any readers of this novel would be to turn to Jhumpa Lahiri’s Afterword first. The translator is herself…
Mary Magdalene by Adriana Valerio
Translated by Wendy Wheatley Reviewed by Harriet Adriana Valerio is an Italian historian and theologian. One of the first women in Italy to be awarded a theology degree, she has…
Reviewer’s Choice: A New Sublime – Ten Timeless Lessons on the Classics by Piero Boitani
While Shiny New Books concentrates on the new, occasionally, we give our reviewers room to share previously published – ie: ‘not Shiny New Books’ – they have been reading. A…
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
Translated by Anne Goldstein Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth Adolescence can be brutal, and in The Lying Life of Adults Elena Ferrante brings it out in all its ugly passions, grievances…
Diary Of A Foreigner In Paris, by Curzio Malaparte
Translated by Stephen Twilley Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies An adjective frequently applied to Curzio Malaparte is ‘colourful’. To the Cambridge dictionary it means ‘vivid, rich, or distinctive in character’, and…
Snow, Dog, Foot by Claudio Morandini
Translated by J. Ockenden Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Who could resist the title of this Italian bestseller? A black comedy about a hermit in the Italian Alps, it starts off…
The Measure of a Man by Marco Malvaldi
Review by Terence Jagger I was intrigued to see this novel on my doormat: Malvaldi is better known (to me at least) as a writer of crime stories, and I…
Sanctuary by Luca D’Andrea
Translated by Howard Curtis and Katherine Gregor Review by Basil Ransome-Davies Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ‘em/And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so, ad…
A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio
Translated by Ann Goldstein Review by Gill Davies It is 1975, somewhere in the south of Italy. A thirteen year old girl drags a suitcase and a bag of shoes…
Cold For the Bastards of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio de Giovanni
Translated by Antony Shugaar Reviewed by Gill Davies This is the third book in a series of police procedural novels by the successful Italian crime writer Maurizio de Giovanni (also…
The Sect Of Angels by Andrea Camilleri
Translated by Stephen Sartarelli Reviewed by Gill Davies In addition to the Inspector Montalbano novels, best known to English readers from the TV adaptations in the BBC4 Saturday night crime…
The Apothecary’s Shop by Roberto Tiraboschi
Translated by Katherine Gregor Reviewed by Terence Jagger In early twelfth century Venice set we our scene, although the cod historical touch is maybe just a little unfair, there is…
Can You Hear Me? by Elena Varvello
Translated by Alex Valente Review by Annabel Can you hear me? is no ordinary psychological thriller – to pigeonhole it into that sub-genre would be to ignore large parts of…
A Different Sea – Claudio Magris
Translated from the Italian by M. S. Spurr Reviewed by Hayley Anderton This is a book that really needs an introduction, or even an afterword, unfortunately it doesn’t have one….
For All the Gold in the World by Massimo Carlotto
Translated by Antony Shugaar Reviewed by Terence Jagger This is ‘an Alligator mystery’, latest in a series featuring an independent and unlicensed private investigator, Marco Buratti, tough but not personally violent,…
Numero Zero by Umberto Eco
Translated by Richard Dixon Reviewed by Paul Fishman For a short novel, Numero Zero is amazingly leisurely and discursive. It’s like an Arabian Nights for conspiracy theorists, historians of the late 20th century and…
Pushkin Vertigo – titles by Piero Chiara & Leo Perutz
Reviewed by Victoria Pushkin Vertigo, the new crime imprint from Pushkin Press has got off to a flying start with its first batch of releases. Not surprisingly, perhaps, when you…
Three-Card Monte by Marco Malvaldi
Translated by Howard Curtis Reviewed by Terence Jagger I knew nothing of this author, but enjoyed this light, untroubling murder mystery set in the coastal town of Pineta in Italy. …
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