Ten

(Paperback)

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Description

The Mafia and the Ten Commandments meet in these interlinked short stories about ordinary people living in the underbelly of Naples The Mafia and the Ten Commandments meet in these interlinked short stories about the undebelly of Naples. Ten uncovers the raw heart of a city, telling the stories of ordinary people forced to make extraordinary compromises in a place permeated by crime. We encounter a son who finds that he is capable of a terrible act when faced with his mother's suffering 'because someone had to do it'; a girl whose only outlet for the horrors of an adult's abuse is to confide in a stuffed toy; an ancient nightclub singer whose ambition has led him to become a drug tester for a Mafia boss; and Ray-Ban who, during a night of mayhem with his friends, manages to steal the wrong car and pays dearly for it. Each comes to life with painful precision in the hands of Andrej Longo - their fears, regrets, energy and grace. In direct and sometimes brutally raw prose, he conjures a searing new vision of Naples. With the lightest of brush strokes, Longo builds a vivid portrait of a city, its people, and their dreams of escape.

Reviews

Sparse, simple prose, which is nonetheless poetic and multi-layered in meaning * Press Association *
The stark lines of a cartoon world resonate with Longos spare yet lilting prose (brought delicately to life by Howard Curtis) [Longos] intimate observationsconjure visions of a city on fire -- Ted Hodgkinson * Times Literary Supplement *
An enlightening read The writing is excellent * Bookmunch *

Author Bio

Andrej Longo was born in Ischia and named in homage to Tolstoy's War and Peace. He has published several critically acclaimed short story collections and featured in many anthologies. Ten was longlisted for the Bagutta prize, the Piero Chiara prize and the Premio Nazionale di Narrativa Bergamo. When he isn't writing for theatre, radio or cinema, Andrej Longo works as a pizza-maker in Naples.