Sacha Naspini – författare

A HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL STORY OF UNDYING LOVE“A delightful story of the muddled, confusing time of love after loss.”–BooklistNives has recently lost her husband of fifty years. She didn’t cry when she found him dead in the pig pen, she didn’t cry at the funeral, but now loneliness has set in. When she decides to bring her favourite chicken inside for company, she is surprised to discover that the chicken’s company is a more than adequate replacement for her dead husband.But one day, Giacomina goes stiff in front of the tv. Unable to rouse the paralysed chicken, Nives has no choice but to call the town veterinarian, Loriano Bottai, an old acquaintance of hers. What follows is a phone call that seems to last a lifetime, a phone call that becomes a novel. Their conversation veers from the chicken to the past—to the life they once shared, the secrets they never had the courage to reveal, wounds that never healed.Tell Me About It reverberates with the kinds of stories we tell ourselves at night when we cannot sleep: stories of love lost, of abandonment, of silent and heart-breaking nostalgia, of joy, laughter, and despair. With delicate yet sharp prose and raw, astonishing honesty, Naspini bravely explores the core of our shared humanity.

Tuscany, November 1943. The village of Le Case is miles from any big city and remains rooted in an earlier century. Seen from Le Case, even the war looks different—mostly a matter of waiting, praying, and mourning. As a fierce winter threatens, an ominous order is issued by the local Fascist authorities: all Jews must be rounded up and detained in the bishop’s villa to await deportation. René is the town’s cobbler. A loner, his only friend is the widow Anna, a woman with whom he has been secretly in love for years. When Anna’s son joins the Resistance but is soon killed by the Wehrmacht, the grieving woman vows to continue her son’s mission. René later learns that a group of Resistance fighters has been ambushed and the survivors are imprisoned in the bishop’s villa. A woman is among them, they say, a grieving mother and former inhabitant of Le Case. René can no longer stand by and watch as his town, his country, and his one great love become victims of the Nazis and their Fascist enablers, and he decides to take action. Perhaps for the first time in his life.Based on the true story of a nefarious collaboration between the Catholic diocese of Grosseto and the Fascist authorities, The Bishop’s Villa is a masterful weaving together of fact and fiction by one of Italy’s most exciting young writers.

The incredible story of a war between gangs of tomb raiders, from Maremma to CaliforniaMany of the Etruscan artifacts now exhibited in the world's most prestigious galleries have a story. This one, for example…Tuscany, 1972. Bardo is the best tomb raider around. Over the years, he has managed to build an illicit traffic of Etruscan artifacts, via the capital and all the way to America. When his son Giovanni takes over the trade, it soon becomes apparent he lacks his father’s talents. As if that weren't enough, rival gangs see this moment of weakness as a good opportunity to take over the market.A story of betrayal, revenge, and true love, The Witch’s Mouth offers a glimpse into the world that shaped the history of many museums, from Italy’s provinces and the romantic land pirates and their excavation fever, all the way to the highest echelons of global trading.