House on Via Gemito

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2024

\”Starnone uses languages the way a great painter works with colour, conjuring the illusion of three dimensions from a blank flat surface.\” -Jhumpa Lahiri

\”One of Italy’s most accomplished novelists.\” -The Guardian

\”Masterly.\” -Times Literary Supplement

The modest apartment on Via Gemito smells of paint and white spirit.The furniture is pushed up against the wall to create a make-shift studio, and drying canvases must be moved off the beds each night.

Federi, a railway clerk, is convinced that, if he didn’t have a family to feed, he’d be a world-famous painter.Talented, ambitious, and frustrated, his life is marked by bitter disappointment.His long-suffering wife and their four sons bear the brunt.

Years later, his first-born son will tell the story of a man he spent his whole life trying not to resemble.

Narrated against the background of a Naples still marked by WWII and first published in Italy over 20 years ago, The House on Via Gemito is a masterpiece of contemporary Italian literature.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 464
Imprint: Europa Edns (US)
Publication date: 21/03/2024