narrativa italiana in inglese – Globolibri.it

Arturo’s Island

Arnaldo Ageno — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 15:35:51 +0000

Young Arturo grows up in isolated freedom on an island in the Bay of Naples, roaming the hills with his dog, sailing and reading tales of mythical heroes.

This idyll is shattered when his father returns home with a new wife, Nunziata. Barely older than Arturo, one of the only women he has ever met, she awakens his fierce longing for tenderness, a longing which draws the family towards a painful reckoning in this powerful story of disillusionment and desire.

Ocean Sea

Arnaldo Ageno — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:05:59 +0000

A handful of disparate lives converge at a remote seaside inn: a lovelorn professor, a renowned painter, an inscrutable seductress – and a beautiful young girl, fatally ill, brought to the sea by a desperate father’s last hope. An intricate web of destinies and associations begins to reveal itself, but it is not until the arrival of a mysterious sailor called Adams that the truth in all its dreamlike beauty and cruelty becomes clear. Alternately playful and profoundly serious, Baricco’s novel surges with the hypnotic power of the ocean sea.

Una manciata di vite disparate converge in una remota locanda al mare: un professore incomprensibile, un rinomato pittore, una seduttrice imperscrutabile – e una bellissima ragazza, malata fatalmente, portata in mare dall’ultima speranza di un padre disperato. Un’intricata rete di destini e associazioni inizia a rivelarsi, ma non è fino all’arrivo di un misterioso marinaio chiamato Adams che la verità in tutta la sua bellezza onirica e crudeltà diventa chiara. Alternativamente giocoso e profondamente serio, il romanzo di Baricco si estende con il potere ipnotico dell’oceano.

The Letter Carrier La portalettere

Arnaldo Ageno — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 11:10:09 +0000

Salento, Italy, June 1934.

A coach stops in the main square of Lizzanello, a tight-knit village where everyone knows each other. A couple gets off: The man, Carlo, a child of the South, is happy to be back home after a long time away; the woman, Anna his wife, is a stranger from the North. Carlo’s brother is there to meet them, and he and everyone else can’t help but notice that Anna is as beautiful as a Greek statue.

But Anna is not like the other wives. She doesn’t gossip or attend church. She reads books no one else has ever heard of.

She even wears pants, just like a man, and thinks a woman should have rights just like a man. There aren’t many options for a woman with Anna’s sensibilities, so when she learns that the post office is hiring, she leaps at the opportunity. A female letter carrier? It is unthinkable.

But Anna soon becomes the invisible thread connecting the town as she delivers letters between clandestine lovers, families waiting to hear news of loved ones away at war, even helping those who can’t read. But for some in Lizzanello, letters come too little and too late. The seamstress, who was Carlo’s first love, can’t help but look at Anna as having taken her rightful place.

Carlo’s niece has put herself in a loveless marriage after an impetuous act of jealousy. And Carlo and his brother find themselves trying to cover up a recently unearthed surprise that could shatter all of their lives.

Salento, Italia, giugno 1934.

Una carrozza si ferma nella piazza principale di Lizzanello, un paese molto unito dove tutti si conoscono. Scende una coppia: l’uomo, Carlo, figlio del Sud, è felice di essere tornato a casa dopo tanto tempo; la donna, Anna, sua moglie, è una straniera del Nord. Il fratello di Carlo è lì ad accoglierli, e lui e tutti gli altri non possono fare a meno di notare che Anna è bella come una statua greca.

Ma Anna non è come le altre mogli. Non spettegola né va in chiesa. Legge libri di cui nessuno ha mai sentito parlare.

Indossa persino i pantaloni, proprio come un uomo, e pensa che una donna debba avere gli stessi diritti di un uomo. Non ci sono molte opzioni per una donna con la sensibilità di Anna, quindi quando scopre che l’ufficio postale sta assumendo, coglie al volo l’opportunità. Una postina? È impensabile.

Ma Anna diventa presto il filo invisibile che collega la città, consegnando lettere tra amanti clandestini, famiglie in attesa di notizie dei propri cari in guerra, e persino aiutando chi non sa leggere. Ma per alcuni a Lizzanello, le lettere arrivano troppo poche e troppo tardi. La sarta, che è stata il primo amore di Carlo, non può fare a meno di considerare Anna come se avesse preso il suo posto legittimo.

La nipote di Carlo si è messa in un matrimonio senza amore dopo un impetuoso atto di gelosia. E Carlo e suo fratello si ritrovano a cercare di nascondere una sorpresa appena scoperta che potrebbe sconvolgere tutte le loro vite.

The Betrothed

Arnaldo Ageno — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 08:36:44 +0000

Set in Lombardy during the Spanish occupation of the late 1620s, The Betrothed tells the story of two young lovers, Renzo and Lucia, prevented from marrying by the petty tyrant Don Rodrigo, who desires Lucia for himself. Forced to flee, they are then cruelly separated, and must face many dangers including plague, famine and imprisonment, and confront a variety of strange characters – the mysterious Nun of Monza, the fiery Father Cristoforo and the sinister ‘Unnamed’ – in their struggle to be reunited. A vigorous portrayal of enduring passion, The Betrothed’s exploration of love, power and faith presents a whirling panorama of seventeenth-century Italian life and is one of the greatest European historical novels.
Ambientato in Lombardia durante l’occupazione spagnola della fine degli anni Venti del Seicento, I Promessi Sposi racconta la storia di due giovani innamorati, Renzo e Lucia, a cui il tiranno Don Rodrigo, che desidera Lucia per sé, impedisce di sposarsi. Costretti a fuggire, vengono crudelmente separati e devono affrontare molti pericoli, tra cui peste, carestia e prigionia, e confrontarsi con una varietà di strani personaggi – la misteriosa Monaca di Monza, il focoso Padre Cristoforo e il sinistro “Innominato” – nella loro lotta per riunirsi. Un ritratto vigoroso di una passione duratura, l’esplorazione di amore, potere e fede de I Promessi Sposi offre un panorama vorticoso della vita italiana del XVII secolo ed è uno dei più grandi romanzi storici europei.

The Art of Joy

Arnaldo Ageno — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 11:05:45 +0000

Goliarda Sapienza’s The Art of Joy was written over a nine year span, from 1967 to 1976. At the time of her death in 1996, Sapienza had published nothing in a decade, having been unable to find a publisher for what was to become her most celebrated work, due to its perceived immorality. One publisher’s rejection letter exclaimed: ‘It’s a pile of iniquity.’ The manuscript lay for decades in a chest finally being proclaimed a “forgotten masterpiece” when it was eventually published in 2005.

This epic Sicilian novel, which begins in the year 1900 and follows its main character, Modesta, through nearly the entire span of the 20th century, is at once a coming-of-age novel, a tale of sexual adventure and discovery, a fictional autobiography, and a sketch of Italy’s moral, political and social past. Born in a small Sicilian village and orphaned at age nine, Modesta spends her childhood in a convent raised by nuns.Through sheer cunning, she manages to escape, and eventually becomes a princess. Sensual, proud, and determined, Modesta wants to discover the infinite richness of life and sets about destroying all social barriers that impede her quest for the fulfilment of her desires.

She seduces both men and women, and even murder becomes acceptable as a means of removing an obstacle to happiness and self-discovery. Goliarda Sapienza (1924-1996) was born in Catania, Sicily in 1924, in an anarchist socialist family. At sixteen, she entered the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome and worked under the direction of Luchino Visconti, Alessandro Blasetti and Francesco Maselli.

The Cursed Friend

Arnaldo Ageno — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 13:30:18 +0000

It is 1936 in the small Italian city of Monza. On the pebbled bank of the Lambro, two frantic girls scramble to hide a body.

A year earlier, Maddalena attracts stares everywhere she goes. ‘The Cursed One’, they whisper, as tales of the harm she’s inflicted upon those that have crossed her ignite fear and scorn amongst the townspeople. Francesca is not scared like the others.

Respectable, well-behaved and yearning for a life beyond provincial conformity, she is drawn to Maddalena’s rebellious spirit. When, one day, she finds herself telling a lie to save her, this split-second decision irrevocably binds the girls together. From this moment on they will go to any length to protect one another, even if that leads to a terrible violence…

The Brittle Age L’età fragile

Arnaldo Ageno — Sun, 04 May 2025 13:52:23 +0000

In the 1990s, deep in the Maiella mountains of Central Italy, a brutal crime shattered the peace of the local community. Two young women were murdered, a third left for dead. Lucia was twenty years old back then, and the only survivor, a childhood friend.

Now Lucia is a physiotherapist, separating from her husband, her daughter Amanda studying in Milan. When the pandemic forces Amanda to return to the family’s home near Pescara, forever changed by her experiences, Lucia’s memories are reawakened, and with them the impact of past trauma. Set against the backdrop of the rugged Apennine mountains, the narrative intricately weaves Lucia and Amanda’s personal struggles with the mystery of the tragedy that marked their familial land decades earlier.

Inspired by true events, The Brittle Age is a tale of individual resilience, and a commentary on the indelible impact of historical events on personal lives and the broader community.

Decameron

Arnaldo Ageno — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 11:12:25 +0000

In the summer of 1348, the plague ravages Florence, and ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside, where they entertain themselves with tales of love, death and corruption, featuring a host of colourful characters, from lascivious clergymen and mad kings to devious lovers and false miracle-makers. Named after the Greek for ten days, Boccaccio’s book of stories draws on ancient mythology, contemporary events and everyday life, leaving an indelible mark on the works of future writers such as Chaucer and Shakespeare. J.G.

Nichols’s new translation stays as faithful to the original as possible while being written in a clear and eminently modern English, capturing the timeless humour of one of the great classics of world literature.

The Eight Mountains

Arnaldo Ageno — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:45:46 +0000

An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set in the breath-taking Italian Alps, about two boys who meet in the same village every summer, and the men they grow up to become. Pietro, an impressionable city boy, spends his summers in a secluded valley in the Alps. There, surrounded by meadows and peaks, he begins to learn of his father’s dreams and passions.

There, too, he meets Bruno, the son of a local stonemason. As the pair run wild, they form a once-in-a-lifetime friendship. Then one year, the summer visits stop.

Pietro is drawn to cities around the world. But the memory of the mountains never leaves him and, after his father dies, he returns in search of the freedom and camaraderie that he once knew.

Cosmicomics

Arnaldo Ageno — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 16:13:14 +0000

Twelve enchanting and fantastical stories about the evolution of the universe from the giant of Italian literature, Italo Calvino. His characters – whether human, dinosaur or mollusc – disport themselves among galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms – and have time for a love life.