‘A powerful mother-and-daughter story, a profound exploration of human fragility, and of the haunting shadows of the past’
The Brittle Age
[ About The Brittle Age ]
In the 1990s, deep in the Maiella mountains of Central Italy, a brutal crime shattered the peace of the local community. Two young women were murdered, a third left for dead. Lucia was twenty years old back then, and the only survivor, a childhood friend.
Now Lucia is a physiotherapist, separating from her husband, her daughter Amanda studying in Milan. When the pandemic forces Amanda to return to the family’s home near Pescara, forever changed by her experiences, Lucia’s memories are reawakened, and with them the impact of past trauma.
Set against the backdrop of the rugged Apennine mountains, the narrative intricately weaves Lucia and Amanda’s personal struggles with the mystery of the tragedy that marked their familial land decades earlier.
Inspired by true events, The Brittle Age is a tale of individual resilience, and a commentary on the indelible impact of historical events on personal lives and the broader community.
[ My Review ]
The Brittle Age by Donatella Di Pietrantonio published April 10th with Europa Editions UK. It is translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein and is described as ‘a haunting tale of resilience, and a deft excavation of the shadows of the past.’ Set in the mountainous region of the Maiella in Abruzzo, an area renowned for its breathtaking scenery, Di Pietrantonio was inspired by a real-life murder investigation in the 1990s when tragedy befell a rural community.
Lucia, a physiotherapist, never strayed far from her home, always tied to the land by an invisible thread. Thirty years previously Lucia’s friend Doralice narrowly escaped murder when on a hike with two tourists, two sisters, who were camping on a site run by Doralice’s father. The sisters were brutally attacked and murdered, but Doralice escaped, carrying both physical and emotional injuries. Lucia was at the beach that day but the traumatic weeks and months that followed left an indelible mark. Over the years Lucia attempted to make a life for herself but she has always carried a guilt, preventing her from ever truly living. Her relationship with her childhood friend was never the same with Lucia unable to deal with Doralice’s trauma and with her own inexplicable neglect of her friend in the years that followed.
Her marriage and subsequent breakup were both events in her life that were heavily associated with that fateful day, with Lucia unable to step away from the horrendous memories. When her daughter Amanda was born, Lucia delighted in protecting her but when Amanda left to study in Milan, she left a fractured mother-daughter relationship in her wake. During the 2020 Covid Pandemic, Amanda returned home but it was very obvious to Lucia that something was off and that Amanda had changed. As Lucia attempts to reconnect with her daughter, she starts to analyse her own past and the shadow that has always been a sobering feature in her life.
The Brittle Age is at times quite a harrowing read, with scenes that are distressing and dark. As Lucia takes us back to the 1990s, there is a menacing thread running through the chapters, all very heart-breaking and extremely affecting. Resilience is the word used to describe the strength that weaves its way throughout this tale and it is all that and more. Both mother and daughter come to terms with events in their lives and how they can both move forward at their own forgiving pace. An evocative and brooding story set in a stark and unyielding landscape, The Brittle Age is an emotive and compassionate story of acceptance, self-love, survival and absolution.
[ Thank you Europa Editions for a copy of The Brittle Age in exchange for me honest review ]
[ Bio ]
Donatella Di Pietrantonio is the author of three prize-winning novels including A Girl Returned, winner of the prestigious Campiello Prize. She lives in Penne, Abruzzo, where she practises as a paediatric dentist.
Ann Goldstein has translated into English all of Elena Ferrante’s books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Lying Life of Adults and The Story of The Lost Child, which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, She has been honoured with a Guggenheim Fellowship and is the recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Award. She lives in New York.
Great review lovely x
Jo thanks so much xx
This book sounds like a high quality story, intricate and complex. I like books with a bit of substance. The author and translator are also quite renowned which is a plus.
Another Europa Editions novel Lucy. You should try one. They’re a great publisher with very interesting reads.