A dazzling and richly textured novel that mixes magical realism with the big themes - war, love, death, the afterlife.
Primo Verona is born with a gift of clairvoyance so strong that he predicts his own mother's death while still in her womb. Brought up on astronomy, philosophy and storytelling by his father and aunt, both Auschwitz survivors, Primo reads the futures of the local community who pay him in wads of money, tiramisu and other delicacies.
Pasquale Benvenuto, his close friend and fellow soldier in the Angolan war, is the owner of a bar favoured by local businessmen and gamblers alike. Passionate, Pasquale's culinary reputation rests on the recipes his father taught him - while hiding from the horrors of the Holocaust.
Primo and Pasquale form an easy friendship with the beautiful Beatrice, Primo's wife and Pasquale's former girlfriend, but when she leaves her husband for her old love, Primo is thrown. He casts spells to spoil Pasquale's creations and to win back Beatrice, but inadvertently conjures up a visitor . . .
