Description

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER LONGLISTED AND WINNER OF THE STREGA PRIZE THE HOUSE ON VIA GEMITOStarnone uses languages the way a great painter works with colour, conjuring the illusion of three dimensions from a blank flat surface.Jhumpa LahiriCompelling One of Italys most accomplished novelists.The Guardian”Trick is a chillingly weird chamber piece – a very tricksy treat.The TimesTrick 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 Danieles 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 homean apartment in the centre of Naples that is filled with the ghosts of Mallaricos pastgrandfather 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.