Six Incomparable Italian Novels
As summer kicks into gear and a heatwave rages across parts of India, the idea of summer reads might not quite be as tempting to some as it is for others. But in our minds, few countries are as associated with summer and escape as Italy. They also happen to produce some truly exceptional writing, so we decided to pick six of our favourite Italian novels for this edition.
Alba de Cespedes - The Forbidden Notebook, 1953
Out running an errand, Valeria Cossati gives in to a sudden impulse to buy a shiny black notebook. She starts keeping a diary in secret, recording her concerns about her daughter, the constant churn of the domestic routine and her fears that her husband will discover her new habit. Forbidden Notebook is a rediscovered jewel of Italian literature, and a captivating feminist classic: an intimate, haunting story of domestic discontent in post-war Rome, and of one woman’s awakening.
Alberto Moravia - Boredom, 1960
We’ve covered our love for Moravia in our Part of the Process series, but Boredom, the story of a failed artist and pampered rich son who becomes dangerously attached to a young model, examines the complex relations between money, sex, and masculinity. This powerful and disturbing study in the pathology of modern life is one of the masterworks of a writer who is one of the twentieth century’s finest.
Natalia Ginzburg - Voices in the Evening, 1961
Natalia Ginzburg is one of Italy’s most exceptional writers of the domestic, and this novel is a fine example of that. It follows the secret affair of Elsa, who lives with her parents in the house where she was born, with an elusive son from a rich family. An elegant, spare novel reminiscent of Chekhov, Voices in the Evening is about first love, lost chances and societal expectation, providing a stunning portrait of post-war Italy.
Antonio Tabucchi - Pereira Maintains, 1994
Widely lauded when it emerged in the nineties, and often cited by many writers as a hidden gem, Tabucchi’s Pereira Maintains is a slim, stunning volume that follows follows a journalist for the culture column of a small Lisbon newspaper, as he struggles with his conscience and the restrictions of the dictatorial regime of Antonio Salazar in Portugal. Antonio Tabucchi won the Premio Campiello, Viareggio Prize and Premio Scanno in 1994 for the novel.
Elena Ferrante - The Days of Abandonment, 2002
Though perhaps lesser known than her My Brilliant Friend trilogy, Elena Ferrante’s first is the story of one woman’s headlong descent into an “absence of sense” after being abandoned by her husband. After her marriage suddenly ends, Olga’s life become a desperate, dangerous freefall into the darkest places of the soul as she stays confined at home or roams the empty streets of Turin in the middle of a heat wave. Olga is forced to confront her ghosts, the potential loss of her own identity, and the possibility that life may never return to normal again.
Domenico Starnone - Ties, 2014
Domenico Starnone is one of the hidden gems of Italian fiction, and his thirteenth work of fiction is a powerful short novel about relationships, family, love, and the ineluctable consequences of one's actions. Known as a consummate stylist, he was the winner of many of Italy's most prestigious literary awards. Ties follows the story of a marriage through different decades, revealing fissures, fault lines and secrets.