A young Sardinian woman narrates the story of her beloved, beautiful, and somewhat crazy grandmother, and in the telling evokes a whole family, the unique landscape of her country, and an aspect of history, including the Second World War, from a perspective unusual for Australian readers.
Her grandmother, her nonna, is a dreamer who yearns for a love that eludes her. She marries a man, the narrator's nonno, who arrives in the village having lost his house and family in a bombing raid. Their relationship is warm but loveless. It is only when nonna visits thermal baths for the treatment of her kidney-stones that she finds the perfect, vivid love that she has yearned for - with the Veteran, a crippled married man suffering from the same illness.
This is a small novel, but not a simple one. The plot is highly inventive, perfectly shaped, and surprising. The themes of the novel are grounded in characters and landscapes that are intense and real, but move into areas that are universally profound: the deep frustrations and loyalties within a family, the irrational sexual desires of a married couple, and the way that being born in a particular place at a particular point in history will shape these relationships.
Milena Agus' deep love for her country and its people radiates from every page. Her great skill is in drawing her readers into the warmth and colour of this vision. Scribe is thrilled to introduce her novels to an Australian audience.
