Trick

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FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER LONGLISTED AND WINNER OF THE STREGA PRIZE THE HOUSE ON VIA GEMITO

"Starnone uses languages the way a great painter works with colour, conjuring the illusion of three dimensions from a blank flat surface."-Jhumpa Lahiri

"Compelling... One of Italy's most accomplished novelists."-The Guardian

"Trick is a chillingly weird chamber piece - a very tricksy treat."-The Times

Trick 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 Daniele's 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 Mallarico's 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.

Reviews

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One of Italy's most accomplished novelists spins a wonderful story about an elderly illustrator and his four-year-old grandson.

' - Tim Parks

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Trick is a chillingly weird chamber piece - a very tricksy treat.

' - The Times

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Starnone packs a huge amount into a small compass.

' - The Sunday Times

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"Starnone echoes James throughout, with ghoulish hallucinations, and piercing insights into identity and the shifting perceptions of ageing."

' - BBC Culture

'

Superb.

' - Washington Post

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Author Bio

Domenico Starnonewas born in Naples and lives in Rome. He is the author of thirteen works of fiction, includingFirst Execution(Europa, 2009),Ties(Europa, 2017) aSunday TimesBest Book of the Year,Trick(Europa, 2018), a Finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and the 2019 PEN Translation Prize, Trust (Europa, 2021), andThe House on Via Gemito(Europa, 2023), winner of Italys most prestigious literary prize, the Strega. It was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024. Jhumpa Lahiri is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Interpreter of Maladies. Her books include The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, The Lowland, and, most recently, In Other Words, an exploration of language and identity. She is the translator of Starnones Ties and Trust.