Trick

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER LONGLISTED AND WINNER OF THE STREGA PRIZE THE HOUSE ON VIA GEMITO

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

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

\”Trick is a chillingly weird chamber piece – a very tricksy treat.\”-The Times

Trick is a stylish drama about ambition, family, and old age that goes beyond the ordinary and predictable. Imagine a duel between two men. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator who, in the twilight of his years, feels that his reputation and his artistic prowess are fading. The other, Mario, is Daniele’s four-year-old grandson. Daniele has been living in a cold northern city for years, in virtual solitude, focusing obsessively on his work, when his daughter asks if he would come to Naples for a few days and babysit Mario while she and her husband attend a conference. Shut inside his childhood home?an apartment in the centre of Naples that is filled with the ghosts of Mallarico’s past?grandfather and grandson match wits as Daniele heads toward a reckoning with his own ambitions and life choices.

Outside the apartment, pulses Naples, a wily, violent, and passionate city whose influence can never be shaken.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Imprint: Europa Edns (US)
Publication date: 04/04/2024
Illustrator: Maglionico, Dario