HarperVia – serie

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZEWINNER OF THE WARWICK PRIZE FOR WOMEN IN TRANSLATION“Devastatingly brilliant. . . . Poignant, heart-stopping, sublime.” —New York Times Book ReviewWar and Peace for the twenty-first century, the internationally bestselling, award-winning multigenerational epic that begins with the Russian Revolution and spans a century—a novel of war, loss, love requited and unrequited, ghosts, joy, massacres, tragedy, and hot chocolate.At the start of the twentieth century, on the edge of the Russian empire, a family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down from generation to generation with great care and caution. A caution which is justified: it is a recipe for ecstasy that carries a very bitter aftertaste . . .Stasia learns it from her Georgian father and takes it north, following her new husband, Simon, to his posting in St. Petersburg, the center of the Russian Revolution. Stasia’s is only the first in a symphony of grand but all too often doomed romances that swirl from sweet to sour in this epic tale of the red century.Moving across years and vast expanses of longing and loss, each succeeding generation of this remarkable family hears echoes and sees reflections of their past. A ballet dancer’s dream of performing in Paris never comes to fruition; a singer pines for Vienna. These and other unforgettable characters engage in larger-than-life relationships that come and go and come again; their world shakes and shakes more. A grand and sweeping epic, The Eighth Life (for Brilka) is one of those glorious classic books that readers can embrace and learn, be lost and found, and make indelible new friends.Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin

In the boiling heat of summer, a broken remote control for an air conditioner threatens life as we know it in this reality-bending, time-slipping Japanese science fiction sequel to The Tatami Galaxy.During a scorching August in Kyoto, our protagonist and his worst friend, Ozu, are locked in a glaring contest in a four-and-a-half-tatami-mat room. Ozu has spilled Coke on the air conditioner’s remote control—the only AC in Shimogamo Yusuisuiso, their famously shabby sweatbox of an apartment building. Vengeful and despairing, our protagonist discusses countermeasures with his secret crush, the reliably blunt Akashi, when Tamura, a strange young man with a bad haircut, appears.Tamura claims to be a time traveler from 25 years in the future, and shows off the time machine he uses to travel. Our protagonist has a brilliant idea: the sweetest revenge would be to go back one day in time and retrieve the functioning remote control. His simple fix is complicated by Ozu and several others who are also eager to take a ride back in time. But in attempting to alter the past, our protagonist foresees the world's extinction. Even more troublingly, Akashi mentions she’s bringing someone to the upcoming bonfire . . . and it's not him. Only one thing remains certain: it's going to be a very long month.Obliteration? Salvation? Coca-Cola? Castella cake? What does the time machine hold for our (not quite) heroes? It all depends on which one gets there first.Translated from the Japanese by Emily BalistrieriQuirky College Comedy: Meet a group of Kyoto university students whose lazy summer is thrown into chaos by a spilled Coke, a broken AC remote, and the sudden appearance of a strange young man claiming to be from 25 years in the future.Low-Stakes Time Travel: When the mysterious visitor reveals his functioning time machine, the protagonist hatches a brilliant plan: travel back one day in time to retrieve the remote before the fateful accident. What could possibly go wrong?Slice of Life Sci-Fi: This story blends the mundane anxieties of a sweltering summer in a shabby apartment building with reality-bending adventures, as friends and rivals complicate the simple mission with their own temporal joyrides.A Sequel to The Tatami Galaxy: Fans of the original will delight in this return to a beloved world, where a simple twist of fate threatens to unravel the universe, and a secret crush’s social plans cause just as much panic as a potential time paradox.

WINNER OF THE MILES FRANKLIN AWARD 2020An exquisitely written, heartbreaking and hopeful novel of culture, language, tradition, suffering and empowerment ‘A groundbreaking novel for black and white Australia’ Richard Flanagan, Man Booker Prize winning author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North Knowing that he will soon die, Albert “Poppy” Gondiwindi has one final task he must fulfill. A member of the indigenous Wiradjuri tribe, he has spent his adult life in Prosperous House and the town of Massacre Plains, a small enclave on the banks of the Murrumby River. Before he takes his last breath, Poppy is determined to pass on the language of his people, the traditions of his ancestors, and everything that was ever remembered by those who came before him. The land itself aids him; he finds the words on the wind.After his passing, Poppy’s granddaughter, August, returns home from Europe, where she has lived the past ten years, to attend his burial. Her overwhelming grief is compounded by the pain, anger, and sadness of memory―of growing up in poverty before her mother’s incarceration, of the racism she and her people endured, of the mysterious disappearance of her sister when they were children; an event that has haunted her and changed her life. Her homecoming is bittersweet as she confronts the love of her kin and news that Prosperous is to be repossessed by a mining company. Determined to make amends and honor Poppy and her family, she vows to save their land―a quest guided by the voice of her grandfather that leads into the past, the stories of her people, the secrets of the river.Told in three masterfully woven narratives, The Yield is a celebration of language and an exploration of what makes a place "home." A story of a people and a culture dispossessed, it is also a joyful reminder of what once was and what endures―a powerful reclaiming of Indigenous language, storytelling, and identity, that offers hope for the future.

“[A] rich and lyrical tale of desperation and redemption . . . Throughout, Sainz Borgo applies stark poetry to the terrifying setting, where 'moans and cries attributed to ghosts sometimes masked executions and beatings.' It’s a stunner.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)“[A] deeply felt meditation on migration, mourning and the simultaneous entanglement and estrangement of the living and the dead” —Los Angeles TimesWinner of the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize, a searing novel of loss and resilience that illuminates the often-overlooked human dimension of the migrant crisis, re-imagining the border as a dreamlike purgatory bridging life and death.In this powerful work of magical realism set in an unnamed Latin American country, a mysterious plague quickly spreads, erasing the memory of anyone infected. Angustias Romero flees with her family, but their flight is tragically cut short when she loses both her children. Consumed by grief, she finds herself within the hallucinatory expanse of Mezquite–a town corrupted by greed and populated by storytellers, refugees, and violent, predatory gangs.Here, Angustias is finally able to lay her children to rest at the Third Country, a cemetery run by the larger-than-life Visitación Salazar and a refuge beyond suffering and fear. While Visitación remains defiant in her mission to care for the dead, the cemetery she oversees is the focal point of a bitter land dispute with Alcides Abundio, the most feared landowner of the border. Caught in this power struggle, Angustias and Visitación–friends and sometimes rivals– stand their ground on a frontier where the law is dictated by violence; a surreal territory whose very nature blurs the boundaries between life and death.Exploring what we are capable of and how far we will go when we have nothing to lose, this stunning example of modern literary fiction confirms Karina Sainz Borgo’s importance amongst the voices of modern Latin American literature, merging thriller, western, and classic tragedy in an unforgettable and urgent novel that won the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize.Translated from the Spanish by Elizabeth Bryer

Set against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, international bestselling author Marc Levy’s new novel is a page-turning thriller full of courage, resilience, and love.A mother’s love knows no borders, and her fight knows no limits.Veronika, a nurse, returns home to find that her nine-year-old son, Valentyn, has disappeared. Overcome with a mother’s terror but fueled by relentless love, Veronika embarks on a perilous journey to find him.At the same time, her fiercely independent teenage daughter, Lilya, sets off on her own reckless quest for her brother. Their searches are unknowingly aided by a reclusive hacker, a man indebted to Veronika who battles the conspiracy from the shadows. As the family faces unimaginable dangers, their fight for reunion becomes a testament to the enduring power of hope and courage against a monstrous, real-life plot that aims to erase a generation.

The devastating and powerful memoir from a French publisher who was abused by a famous writer from the age of thirteen ‘Dazzling’ New York Times‘A gut-punch of a memoir with prose that cuts like a knife’ Kate Elizabeth Russell, author of My Dark VanessaThirty years ago, Vanessa Springora was the teenage muse of one of France’s most celebrated writers, a footnote in the narrative of an influential man. At the end of 2019, as women around the world began to speak out, Springora, now in her forties and the director of one of France’s leading publishing houses, decided to reclaim her own story.Consent recalls her stolen adolescence. Devastating in its honesty, Springora’s painstaking memoir lays bare the cultural attitudes and circumstances that made it possible for a fourteen-year-old girl to become involved with a fifty-year-old man.

An urgent literary phenomenon sold in over 22 languages before publication, a gripping tale of one woman’s desperate battle to survive the dangerous, sometimes deadly, turbulence of modern Venezuela. In Caracas, Venezuela, Adelaida Falcon stands over an open grave. Alone, except for harried undertakers, she buries her mother – the only family Adelaida has ever known.Numb with grief, Adelaida returns to the apartment they shared. Outside her window tear gas rains down on protesters in the streets. When looters masquerading as revolutionaries take over her apartment, Adelaida resists and is beaten up. This marks the beginning of a fight for survival in a country that has disintegrated into violence and anarchy, where citizens are increasingly pitted against each other.From a powerful, new voice, It Would Be Night in Caracas is a chilling reminder of how quickly the world we know can crumble.

In the vein of All the Light We Cannot See, a cross-cultural love story set against the dramatic backdrop of the Allied invasion of Europe during WWII.Vancouver, 1942. Josiah Chang arrives in the bustling city ready to make a new life for himself. The Second World War is in full swing, and Josiah, like so many Canadians, wants to prove his loyalty by serving his country. But Chinese Canadians are barred from joining the army out of fear they might expect citizenship in return. So, Josiah heads to the shipyard where he finds work as a riveter, fastening together the ribs and steel plates of Victory ships. One night, Josiah spots Poppy singing at a navy club. Despite their different backgrounds, they fall for each other instantly, and soon Josiah is spending his nights at Poppy’s small wartime house. Their starry-eyed romance lasts until Poppy’s father comes to visit and the harsh reality of their situation is made clear. Determined to prove himself to Poppy, her parents, and the world, Josiah travels to Toronto where he’s finally given the chance to enlist. Josiah rises to the occasion, but is the world changing as fast as his dreams…  From the critically acclaimed author of We Two Alone, Jack Wang’s gorgeous debut novel explores what one man must sacrifice to belong in the only home he has ever truly known.

“A sweeping and moving story about music, war, being true to our roots, friendship, and the beauty of the silence that follows a Schubert sonata.”—Tahar Ben Jelloun, Le PointAwarded the Prix des libraires by France’s booksellers, a universal story about music and restoring one’s faith in others amid the aftermath of tremendous loss.Tokyo, 1938. An amateur quartet, led by the compassionate Yu, gathers to practice. Suddenly, their rehearsal is brutally interrupted by military police. In the ensuing skirmish, Yu’s violin is smashed while his son, Rei, witnesses his father’s arrest. He will never see him again. Salvaging his father’s instrument, Rei escapes thanks to a mysterious lieutenant.Paris, 2003. Raised in France, Rei–now Jacques–has dedicated his life to the broken violin’s repair: studying music, becoming an apprentice, and, eventually, a luthier. However, despite his effort to rehabilitate the damage of years ago, he struggles to reconcile his past with the present.Yet, when a world-class violinist, connected to the lieutenant that helped him as a boy, appears, Jacques’ past is rekindled and he perseveres in a final bid to heal. Fractured Soul is a parable of what once was lost and what there stands to be gained–a story of immense beauty and ferocious courage.Translated from the French by Alison Anderson

“Gripping courtroom drama and social commentary . . . the story flows well . . . [the author is] masterful in building suspense.”—Kirkus ReviewsSet in 1920s New York, an addictively readable, thoroughly entertaining historical novel involving sex and secrets, race and redemption, and power and privilege—based on a sensational real-life case that made international headlines—in which the marriage between a working-class black woman and the scion of one of America’s most powerful white families ends in a scandalous annulment lawsuit.When Alice Jones, a blue-color woman with at least one Black parent marries Leonard “Kip” Rhinelander, the son of one of New York’s most prominent society families, the scandal rocks high society—and eventually sets the city afire when Kip later sues for an annulment, accusing Alice of having hidden her “Negro blood” and intentionally deceiving him that she was white.While New York society in the Roaring Twenties witnessed more than a few scandals, the real-life Rhinelander case set tongues wagging and became perhaps the most examined interracial relationship in American history. In Defending Alice, Richard Stratton reimagines this remarkable story, from the couple’s courtship through their controversial marriage to their shocking divorce trial and its aftermath. Chronicled by Alice’s attorney, brilliant trial lawyer Lee Parsons Davis, and told in flashbacks and entries from Alice and Kip’s fictional personal diaries, this epic page-turner vividly brings to life the New York of a century ago—a world seemingly far removed yet tragically familiar to our own.Stratton brilliantly evokes this dazzling era in all its glamour and excess, and in retelling the Rhinelander story, explores issues of sex, race, class, prejudice, and justice that are as relevant today as they were a century ago when this headline-making trial took place.

“[A] rich and lyrical tale of desperation and redemption . . . Throughout, Sainz Borgo applies stark poetry to the terrifying setting, where 'moans and cries attributed to ghosts sometimes masked executions and beatings.' It’s a stunner.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)“[A] deeply felt meditation on migration, mourning and the simultaneous entanglement and estrangement of the living and the dead” —Los Angeles TimesWinner of the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize, a searing novel of loss and resilience that illuminates the often-overlooked human dimension of the migrant crisis, re-imagining the border as a dreamlike purgatory bridging life and death.In an unnamed Latin American country, a mysterious plague quickly spreads, erasing the memory of anyone infected. Angustias Romero flees with her family, but their flight is tragically cut short when she loses both her children. Consumed by grief, she finds herself within the hallucinatory expanse of Mezquite––a town corrupted by greed and populated by storytellers, refugees, and violent, predatory gangs.Here, Angustias is finally able to lay her children to rest at the Third Country, a cemetery run by the larger-than-life Visitación Salazar and a refuge beyond suffering and fear. While Visitación remains defiant in her mission to care for the dead, the cemetery she oversees is the focal point of a bitter land dispute with Alcides Abundio, the most feared landowner of the border. Caught in this power struggle, Angustias and Visitación–friends and sometimes rivals– stand their ground on a frontier where the law is dictated by violence; a surreal territory whose very nature blurs the boundaries between life and death.Exploring what we are capable of and how far we will go when we have nothing to lose, No Place to Bury the Dead confirms Karina Sainz Borgo’s importance amongst the voices of modern Latin American literature, merging thriller, western, and classic tragedy in an unforgettable and urgent novel that won the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize.Translated from the Spanish by Elizabeth Bryer

“One of the year’s most compelling reads.”—Washington Post“Its naturalness and ease with the most fundamental questions of existence make it a big project knocking around in a small package.”—New York TimesFrom the acclaimed author of The Atmospherians, a gender-bending, speculative body-switching novel that explores marriage, identity, and sex, and raises profound questions about the nature of true partnership.When Eli leaves the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with Elizabeth, his more organized and successful wife, he discovers that he now inhabits her body. Not only have he and his wife traded bodies, but Elizabeth, living as Eli, has disappeared without a trace. What follows is Eli’s search across Europe and to America for his missing wife—and a roving, no-holds-barred exploration of gender and embodied experience in this high-concept literary fiction.As Eli comes closer to finding Elizabeth—while learning to exist in her body—he begins to wonder what effect this metamorphosis will have on their relationship and how long he can maintain the illusion of living as someone he isn’t. Will their unconventional marriage wither completely? Or is this transformation the very thing Eli and Elizabeth need for their marriage to thrive?A rich, rewarding exploration of ambition and sacrifice, desire and loss, People Collide is a philosophical novel and a portrait of shared lives that shines a refreshing light on everything we thought we knew about love, sexuality, and the truth of who we are.

The inspiration for the major motion picture starring Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain“Had me in its grips from the first page to the astonishing and jaw-dropping ending.” —Samantha M. Bailey, USA Today bestselling author of Woman On the EdgeA dark, intense domestic thriller about next-door neighbors whose close friendship is upended by a tragic accident, from the queen of Belgian crime.David and Laetitia Brunelle and Sylvain and Tiphaine Geniot are inseparable friends and next-door neighbors in a pretty, tranquil suburb. Their sons Milo and Maxime, born in the same year, grow up together as close as brothers. But when Maxime is killed in an accident, their idyllic world shatters. Maxime's parents, Sylvain and Tiphaine, are consumed by grief and bitterness, while David and Laetitia are wracked with guilt for their role in the tragedy. Soon the couples are barely speaking, although they maintain a polite façade.Then a mysterious series of “accidents” begins to happen to Milo, raising Laetitia’s suspicions. Are their former best friends trying to punish them by threatening their son? As an increasingly paranoid Laetitia frantically tries to protect Milo from harm, the little civility left between the two families curdles into outward hostility. Is Laetitia just imagining things? Or are Sylvain and Tiphaine secretly conspiring to exact their revenge . . . and if so, who will pay?In her American debut, blockbuster Belgian author Barbara Abel plunges into the deepest, darkest corners of her characters’ hearts and minds to explore the limits of friendship, the overwhelming power of maternal love, and how far hate, fear, and vengeance can drive us. Tense and blood-chilling, with a surprising final twist, Mothers' Instinct will keep you on edge until the final page.Translated from the French by Susan Pickford

A National Jewish Book Award Finalist for both the Book Club Award and Hebrew Fiction in TranslationA moving, page-turning story of two families in crisis and the unexpected places from which love can grow."The true mystery Lapid seeks to unveil is one of the most burning questions of our time: What does it mean to be a woman in today’s world? On Her Own is a book you will want all the women in your life to read." —Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, award-winning author of Waking LionsNina, a teenage runaway, wakes up in the unfamiliar stairwell of a Tel Aviv apartment in a torn minidress. As her memory starts to resurface—the abusive older man she’s running away from, the crime she witnessed—she knows one thing: she needs to find a place to hide.When one of the building’s tenants, Carmela, a lonely old widow suffering from memory loss, mistakes Nina for her granddaughter she hasn’t seen in years, Nina jumps at the opportunity for a safe haven. Soon, the two strangers become each other’s lifeline as Nina settles into the apartment with sweet, reassuring Carmela.Meanwhile, Irina, a Russian immigrant, is living a parent’s worst nightmare: her only daughter has gone missing. She knows Nina got involved with the wrong men and will do anything to find her. Across the ocean, Itamar feels that something is happening to his mom, Carmela. The guilt over having left Israel for his pursuit of the American dream stirs childhood memories in him and a longing for the family that once was complete.Set between the eve of Passover and Israel’s Independence Day, On Her Own is a tense and immersive psychological read about two families looking for redemption and the transformative bonds between strangers.Translated from the Hebrew by Sondra Silverston.

“A harrowing portrait of sexual violence and its thunderous reverberations. Through Jenna Tang’s incisive translation, the reader is brought along a heartbreaking and unflinching journey.”—Crystal Hana Kim, author of If You Leave Me*Shortlisted for the Baifang Schell Books Prize*The most influential book of Taiwan’s #MeToo movement—a heartbreaking account of sexual violence and a remarkable reinvention of the trauma plot, turning the traditional Lolita narrative upside down as it explores women’s vulnerability, victimization, and the lengths they will go to survive.Thirteen-year-old Fang Si-Chi lives with her family in an upscale apartment complex in Taiwan, a tightknit community of strict yet doting parents and privileged children raised to be ambitious, dutiful, and virtuous. She and her neighbor Liu Yi-Ting bond over their love of learning and books, devouring classic works—Proust, Gabriel García Márquez, the very best Chinese writers. Yet, it is their lack of real-world education that makes them true kindred spirits.Si-Chi’s innocence is irresistible to Lee Guo-hua, a revered cram literature teacher and serial predator who lives in her building. When he offers to tutor the academic-minded girls for free, their parents—unaware of Lee’s true nature—happily accept. While Yi-Ting’s studies with Lee are straightforward, Si-Chi learns about things no one teaches them in school—lessons about sex and love that will change the course of her life. Confused and uncertain, Si-Chi turns to her beloved books for guidance. But literature tells her nothing honest about rape or how to cope with the trauma of abuse. For her own salvation, the young girl begins to think of her personal hell as her “first love paradise,” where the power of love, no matter how twisted, gives her the strength to survive.One of the biggest books to come out of Taiwan in the last decade, Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise is a chilling tale of grooming and its lingering trauma, and the power structures that allow it to flourish. Insightful, unsettling, emotionally raw, it is a staggering work of literature that reverberates across cultures and forces us to confront painful truths about the vulnerability and strength of women and those who use and hurt them.Translated from the Chinese by Jenna TangSponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Republic of China (Taiwan)

For fans of Naguib Mahfouz's classic Cairo Trilogy and Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men, winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, a heartbreaking portrait of a young Libyan from a long line of bakers who tries to live up to his society's expectations of what it means to be a man.“Must be one of Uncle Milad’s is a well-known insult among Libyans, typically said of a ‘Milad’, a man who struggles to rein in the women who should be obedient to him. Failing to do so he sullies not only his reputation, but that of ‘his’ women.”Milad has always found comfort in the rituals of the kitchen—the steady rhythm of preparing meals, the warmth of fresh bread, the quiet satisfaction of caring for those he loves. But in a society where a man's worth is measured by entirely different standards, he fails to live up to his father's expectations of a man.It's only after marrying his childhood sweetheart Zainab that he can embrace being himself, performing domestic household duties while she becomes the family breadwinner. But while the unconventional arrangement suits the couple, Milad earns his village's scorn and a series of tragic events are set into motion.Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, Mohammed Alnaas's explosive debut is an unflinching but deeply compassionate novel about love, belonging, and the cost of defying what’s expected of you.

A bestseller in Japan—a beautiful coming of age story about shared self-discovery and friendship involving an unlikely group of students who decide to defy the odds and pursue a seemingly impossible goal together.After shoplifting some bread one chilly March night, just before the start of a new academic year at Kansei University in western Tokyo, former high school track and field star Kakeru Kurahara runs through the city streets. Though he has grown disillusioned with the sport, he feels as if he could keep running forever . . . but to where, and for what? His revery is broken by a mysterious boy on a bike who has been following him, a fellow student at Kansei University named Haiji Kiyose, who also happens to be a runner.Impressed by Kakeru’s agility, Haiji Kiyose persuades Kakeru to move into Chikusei-so, a run-down dormitory where he lives with eight other boys, including identical twins Jota and Joji, honor student Shindo, detail-oriented Yuki, trivia junkie King, Tanzanian international student Musa, nicotine-loving Nico, and manga otaku Prince. None of the students know that Chikusei-so is the historic home of the Kansei University Track and Field team.At Kakeru's welcoming party, Kiyose reveals his grand plan: assembling a 10-man team of runners to compete in the Hakone Ekiden, a legendary college marathon relay race. Except for Kakeru and Kiyose, the Chikusei-so gang aren't athletic—or interested in competing. But Kiyose’s enthusiasm wins them over and they agree to this crazy plan. Over the course of ten months, this ragtag team will put aside their differences to pursue an elusive dream . . . and gain so much more than they ever expected.Heartfelt and inspiring, Run with the Wind is a thrilling celebration of what it means to run—for yourself, for others, and with the wind.Translated from the Japanese by Yui Kajita

For fans of The Reader and inspired by historical events in 1940s Italy, a poignant and hopeful novel in which a young, illiterate herdsman learns to read with the help of his two friends— rewriting his destiny in the processSeptember 1942. Young Davide is no stranger to hunger or cruelty. Uneducated but curious, he endures a life of quiet hardship caring for his father’s pigs with only the fiery Teresa for a friend. That is, until a group of Jewish families are relocated to their small Italian town. Among them is the mysterious Nicolas, who sparks within Davide a desire for knowledge and deep connection.When Nicolas’ father sets up an underground school, Davide begins to attend classes and, as he learns to read, words begin to reshape his world. As Davide, Teresa, and Nicolas grow closer, they find themselves navigating the perilous and emotional terrain of adolescence. But when Davide’s choices lead to betrayal and guilt, he is forced to flee the village, leaving his friends behind.In Naples, amid bombed-out rubble, back-alley theaters, and fleeting moments of human kindness, Davide will eventually reclaim his voice through the power of storytelling as a performer. Each word penned carries the weight of his struggle, and every performance strikes back at the cruelty of his world. Resolving at last to find his lost friends, Davide sets off in search of redemption. Rich with history, heartbreak, and the fragile glow of resilience, There Was a Time for Such a Word captures the transformative power of words and the strength needed to decide your fate.Translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon

For fans of The Reader and inspired by historical events in 1940s Italy, a poignant and hopeful novel in which a young, illiterate herdsman learns to read with the help of his two friends—rewriting his destiny in the processSeptember 1942. Young Davide is no stranger to hunger or cruelty. Uneducated but curious, he endures a life of quiet hardship caring for his father’s pigs with only the fiery Teresa for a friend. That is, until a group of Jewish families are relocated to their small Italian town. Among them is the mysterious Nicolas, who sparks within Davide a desire for knowledge and deep connection.When Nicolas’ father sets up an underground school, Davide begins to attend classes and, as he learns to read, words begin to reshape his world. As Davide, Teresa, and Nicolas grow closer, they find themselves navigating the perilous and emotional terrain of adolescence. But when Davide’s choices lead to betrayal and guilt, he is forced to flee the village, leaving his friends behind.In Naples, amid bombed-out rubble, back-alley theaters, and fleeting moments of human kindness, Davide will eventually reclaim his voice through the power of storytelling as a performer. Each word penned carries the weight of his struggle, and every performance strikes back at the cruelty of his world. Resolving at last to find his lost friends, Davide sets off in search of redemption. Rich with history, heartbreak, and the fragile glow of resilience, There Was a Time for Such a Word captures the transformative power of words and the strength needed to decide your fate.Translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon