So People Know It's Me

(Paperback)

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Description

Zeno is 15 years old, in the eyes of the law still a child. But Zeno grew up long ago in the crime-riddled Forcella neighbourhood, where he started his career as a petty thief to supplement his mother's income and, every now and then, take his girlfriend Natalina out for pizza. A quick hand at pickpocketing and selling drugs, Zeno is confronted by another boy from a rival gang who has been tasked with taking out the competition. He shoots three times, the boy drops dead, and Zeno is sent to Nisida, an infamous juvenile prison-island off the Neapolitan coast.

There, Zeno meets Ms Martina, a teacher of Italian at the prison school, who tells him about another famous Zeno in Italian literature and encourages him to start putting pen to paper to write his innermost thoughts. So People Know It's Me unveils Zeno's raw, unguarded glistening voice, as he harbours a growing resentment against the cruel sea separating him from living his life and dreams of a better future.

Reviews

'A dark fable set in the juvenile prison of Nisida . . . Religion, the legal system, society and the State are criticised by the outcast Zeno with arguments drawn from his life . . . this novel is the merciless story of his conscience as a criminal born from need where readers will not only find horror but also - paradoxically - dignity and pride' - Napolista

'Giving voice to a fifteen-year-old boy incarcerated for murder in juvenile prison, Benvenuto crafts her writing, chiselling page after page with an unusual narrative voice, rich in ideas and surprising turns. The boys voice thus becomes the voice of a generation and an invisible social class, often cited only within the narrow space of crime news to signify the decadence of a metropolis like Naples . . . Illuminates and unfolds new spaces of an existence too often ignored and therefore always denied' - Il Manifesto

'Highly original and surprising' - La Gazzetta

'A flowing novel, which can be read in one breath through Zenos funny but at the same time crude words, and which drags the reader into the life and thoughts of someone who had to grow up too quickly' - Il Giornale Locale

Author Bio

Francesca Maria Benvenuto was born in Naples in 1986. She graduated with a Law degree in 2009 and completed a PhD in International Criminal Law in 2012. That same year she moved to Paris to study for a Master's Degree in Criminal Law at the Sorbonne. She then started her own law firm in Paris, where she currently works as a criminal lawyer. She is also studying for a Modern Languages degree at the University of Turin. Her debut novel, So People Know It's Me, was published in Italy by Mondadori in 2024.