Almarina

Literature & Fiction

Parrella, Valeria

Literary

John Murray

'One of the most beautiful books published in recent years: an intense, poignant story' Caterina Bonvicini Can a prison free those who enter? Nisida, moored like a boat in the Mediterranean, is a small island nestled between Capri and Bagnoli, off the coast of Naples. Each day, through the early morning light, Elisabetta Maiorano travels across the city, passes by the guards on the way into the detention centre, hands over her bag and arrives at her classroom. All thoughts are suspended once inside. Usually Elisabetta hasn't spoken to anyone since the day before; her only reason for living to teach mathematics to the group of young inmates who arrive not long after she does. But one day, Almarina shows up and everything changes. She is Romanian and bears the signs of her personal history on her body. Together, closed up in a small classroom, a true island within an island, Elisabetta and Almarina discover a possible pathway to freedom. Warm and intimate, intense and political, Valeria Parrella touches our emotions, giving voice to a loneliness that is universal. Almarina is about finding love in unexpected places, about atonement, forgetting and starting over. But mostly it is about two women learning how to live again. Translated by Alex Valente

Naples is a chaotic, vibrant place whose inhabitants are as volatile and contrary as the city itself. Here, past and present collide, contradictions and conflict reign. From this frantic melange, Valeria Parrella has extracted four exceptional novellas. For Grace Received is a seductive portrait of Naples new and old, where the era of tobacco smuggling gives way to the spread of hard drugs, the vivacity of the traditional extended family meets the crushing solitude of countless anonymous loners, young men and women are forced to make ends meet while their parents serve time, and single mothers struggle to raise children amidst violence and despair. In Valeria Parrella's Naples, life, love and happiness must all be pursued with passion, or not at all. The stories in this collection represent some of the finest short fiction to have emerged from Italy in recent years. Winner of the 2005 Renato Fusini Prize, the 2006 Zerilli-Marimo Prize, and among the finalists for Italy's most prestigious literary award, the Strega, For Grace Received announces the English debut of a remarkable new literary talent.

For Grace Received

Europa Editions

Otto racconti d'amore e non soltanto, otto storie umane sul trovarsi, sul perdersi e lasciarsi andare. Da Napoli a Liverpool, dal silenzio dei genitori alle parole dei figli, dalla magia inconsapevole della seduzione alle controllate omissioni del tradimento, dallo sguardo di chi muore all'allegria di chi rinasce, ogni storia di "Troppa importanza all'amore" rivela qualcosa su ciò che ciascuno crede di conoscere meglio di chiunque altro: la propria vita. Valeria Parrella torna alla leggerezza della forma breve che ha consacrato il suo successo fin dall'esordio con "Mosca più balena".

Troppa importanza all'amore (Italian Edition)

Contemporary

Einaudi

Tempo di imparare (Italian Edition)

Almarina (Italian Edition)

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