“The carrion crow flaps wildly. Each blow is a poem of freedom denied, burned. Erased.” First nominee for the 2026 Edoardo Kihlgren Award for a Debut Book. Be thrilled for the year-long wait! The story begins in Lancashire, England. During her fieldwork, ornithologist Olga Leffman filmed a video of carrion crow, seemingly organized, lighting a fire on a rock face. Thanks to its spread via social media, the video quickly went viral worldwide, as did...
“Perfect: an insult from an ignorant person is always flattering.” We picked this book up at random in a bookstore, drawn by the cover. We didn’t know the author and felt guilty, but then we discovered it was a debut novel, and so we felt justified. So, first of all, let’s start by complimenting the publisher for a spot-on graphic design. The story is about Isa M., a young student from Turin who organizes a...
“FRIDAY RE-VERSO” “You don’t notice love, because it begins when it has already begun..“ If we had read this book at 17, we would have done so with anger and a yearning for revolution; today we read it with melancholy, but beneath the ashes, the revolution still blazes. What has De André always done if not tell us small stories, with little explanation, that prod dormant senses, like that of justice, of humility? Most...
“If he knew how much I love him, he would be scared.” Take an afternoon and immerse yourself in this story. A gift to yourself, like a long-deserved treat, but never received. The book begins with the same flavor as Donna Tarrt’s “God of Illusions”: university life, young students passionate about literature, a special gathering where they can live out their passion. Young students with a whole life to invent, who mean business. A hint...
“My side of the story? The only one that matters.” There are books that make you fall in love at first reading, others where love blossoms over time, and finally those where the spark never ignites, without any precise rules. This book falls into the latter category, but it could be a matter of taste, or of the right chemistry, which perhaps another reader might find. We don’t know how much of this was the...
“On a scale of one to ten, how much did your parents love you?” Jack and Elizabeth are the two human beings we’ll be dealing with for exactly 720 pages; two protagonists we’ll have to explore and discover, and at a certain point we’ll have to side with, or worse yet: confront. Wait, don’t let the page count intimidate you, because more than a mountain to climb, the text is a sea to navigate. It’s...
“FRIDAY RE-VERSO” “‘I have always wanted to know something about you poets […] What do you do all day??“ Belfast and the 1990s. Two friends and a lot of bombs. Sarcasm and sweetness; so much anger; so much love. And a cat. We’re rereading this book after ten years: we didn’t remember it being so long, so full, and we did remember—yes, that—laughing a lot. What makes this novel so great? Because there’s grandeur in...
“FRIDAY RE-VERSO” “They had expectations towards the other person, I only had expectations towards myself.” This book cannot be left unmentioned. To readers, non-readers, people who happen to pass by. In the Italian literary scene, it’s a mine that explodes, sparing no one. Without anything that could even remotely be mistaken for hypocrisy, without discounts, without winks. To discuss it, we must begin with the style: as another author—who is, first and foremost, a careful...
“Only that the doors often remain open when they should remain closed.” The story tells of Elisa, a very young girl who, after the death of her elderly aunt, her guardian, accepts the brief hospitality of her last surviving relative, her cousin Filippo. At Filippo’s home, she is welcomed by her sister-in-law Malvina, and a host of characters crowd their home during long evenings, where they discuss art, politics, society, and any topic on which...
“Some people think about it, some don’t. I’ve been thinking about it for thirty years. I try to prepare myself.” After reading, we found ourselves emotionally exhausted, perhaps still partly so. A book that sooner or later, in a form we cannot imagine, we will find ourselves writing. Each in their own way, each with the right amount of blank pages and unfinished sentences. How much do we really know our mother? Beyond her social...
