"[A] splendid and subtle memoir in essays" —The New York Times Book ReviewHaving lost eight friends in ten years, Cooley retreats to a tiny medieval village in Italy with her husband. There, in a rural paradise where bumblebees nest in the ancient cemetery and stray cats curl up on her bed, she examines a question both easily evaded and unavoidable: mortality. How do we grieve? How do we go on drinking our morning coffee, loving our life partners, stumblin...

This new, expanded collection of Antonio Tabucchi's stories collects the best short fiction from the Italian author recognized as one of the masters of the form.Message From the Shadows is a new collection featuring Antonio Tabucchi's finest short stories, spanning the breadth of his career. These playful tales explore Tabucchi's signature themes, from his inventive, lyrical meditations on language, art, and philosophy, to his fascination with the passage ...

Described by Publishers Weekly as Cooley's "sharp latest", "Cooley has a sure hand in probing the intersection of artistic ambition and money. This hopeful take is sure to move readers."In Brooklyn, New York, in 2005, Ellen Portinari buys a lottery ticket on a whim; not long after, she realizes she’s won a hundred-million-dollar jackpot. With a month to redeem the ticket, she tells no one but her alcoholic brother—a talented composer whose girlfriend has died in a terroris...

A poetic, personal, and historical narrative of a late in life move to a tiny Italian village and a reflection on time and memory in the shadow of a medieval castle borgo.The Patient Wait of the Stones is a memorable meditation on the phenomena of place and the compelling force of history. First published in Italian, this hybrid narrative combines memoir with national and regional history. This literary work is an evocation of the stunning particularity to...

'Ten years ago, my top holiday read was Victoria Hislop's The Island; this summer's great escape belongs to Catherine Banner.' The Pool**'Delightful ... A captivatin**g tale of love ... and loyalty peopled by wonderfully vivid characters.' Sunday Express'Readers, prepare to be captivated.' Irish IndependentOn a tiny island off the coast of Italy, surrounded by the sound of the sea...

Siena seems at first glance a typical Italian city: within its venerable medieval walls the citizens sport designer clothes, wield digital phones, and prize their dazzling local cuisine. But unlike neighboring Florence, Siena is still deeply rooted in ancient traditions—chiefly the spectacular Palio, in which seventeen independent societies known as contrade vie for bragging rights in an annual bareback horse race around the central piazza.Into this strange, closed world s...

A stylish, sun-drenched original short story featuring amateur sleuth Amory Ames and her husband Milo, from the Edgar Award-shortlisted Ashley Weaver.“Amory Ames and her rakish husband Milo might just be the new Nick and Nora Charles.” —Deborah CrombieSurely mysteries and the Mediterranean must be incompatible. The setting was so idyllic, so tranquil and perfect, that it was hard to imagine anything remotely alarming could happen here ....

The No.1 bestselling novel and Richard & Judy Summer Read: a haunting tale of murder, love and lost innocence for fans of Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Jed RubenfeldBehind a villa in the heart of Tuscany lies a Renaissance garden of enchanting beauty. Its grottoes, pagan statues and classical inscriptions seem to have a secret life of their own – and a secret message, too, for those with eyes to read it.Young scholar Adam Strickland is just such a person. Arriving in 1958, he finds...

This is the story of ordinary life in an extraordinary place. The beautiful city of Venice has been a fantasy land for people from around the globe for centuries, but what is it like to live there? To move house by boat, to get a child with a broken leg to hospital or set off for school one morning only to find that the streets have become rivers and the playground is a lake full of sewage? When Polly Coles and her family left England for Venice, they discovered a city caught between moder...

When Vito Santoro’s body is inadvertently unearthed by a demolition crew in Fregene, Italy, his siblings are thrown into turmoil, having been told by their sister Piera that Vito had fled to Argentina fifty years earlier after abandoning his wife and son. Piera, the self-proclaimed matriarch, locks herself in her room, refusing to speak to anyone but her Canadian nephew, David. Now scattered over three continents, the family members regroup in Italy to try to discover the truth. They all a...

When his son is killed by gangsters' crossfire on his way to school, Neapolitan taxi driver Matteo is consumed by despair.But just when he feels life has lost all meaning, he encounters a man who claims the living can find ways into the afterlife. And legend says that there's an entrance to the underworld beneath Naples. What if Matteo had a chance of bringing Pippo back from the dead?

Surrounded by the sea, cut by as many canals as streets, the city of Venice is unique. Built on fill reinforced with pilings made of huge tree trunks, it defies nature and belief. No city has been more often painted or written about, and it has been a tourist destination for centuries for its food, cafe and street life. But Venice is dying, literally sinking into the sea, and its beauty has drawn so many visitors that ordinary citizens can no longer afford to live there. Paolo Barbaro retu...