Watching Over Her
A Novel
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
From French literary talent and Prix Goncourt winner Jean-Baptiste Andrea, a “sprawling fresco and star-crossed love story” (The New York Times) following a dwarf and skilled sculptor as he recounts the moments in his life that inspired his mysteriously powerful masterpiece—perfect for readers of Martyr! and The Covenant of Water.
In an Italian monastery, a sculptor named Mimo lays on his deathbed. For decades, he has lived among the monks who watch over his masterpiece, an arresting statue that haunts all who see it.
During his final hours, he reveals his life story: his impoverished childhood, brutal apprenticeship, and, most important, his meeting with Viola Orsini, the only daughter of a powerful and dangerous aristocratic family. Mimo and Viola are instantly drawn to one another, viewing themselves as outsiders—Mimo, for his dwarfism, Viola for her ability to remember everything she has ever read or experienced. Together, they traverse the unrest of the twentieth century, from the rise of fascism to the violence of the world wars. While Mimo becomes a celebrated artist, Viola chases her own dreams of becoming an emancipated woman. Over the decades, they will lose and find each other time and again, but never will they give up on the love they share.
Immersive and full of heart, Mimo’s adventures are ribald and hilarious, challenging conventions of his day. Jean-Baptiste Andrea’s Prix Goncourt–winning novel has captivated audiences around the globe and is available to readers in English for the first time thanks to Frank Wynne’s wonderfully vivid translation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Winner of the Prix Goncourt, this sweeping tale from Andrea (A Hundred Million Years and a Day) comprises a dying artist's account of how he came to make his mysterious sculpture of the Virgin Mary mourning the crucified Jesus, which is kept shrouded in the vaults of a cliffside Italian monastery. In the frame narrative, Michelangelo "Mimo" Vitaliani, 82, lies on his deathbed at the monastery in 1986. A little person, he sparks fascination from the monks he's been living with for 40 years, who wonder what brought him there, given that he never took the order's vows. The monks also obsess over the sculpture, also known as a pietà, which their abbot hides "out of fear of the impure thoughts" rumored to be provoked by Mary's face. Recounting his life story to the reader, Mimo tells how, as a young boy, his stoneworker father dies and his mother sends him from their French village to apprentice with his sculptor uncle, Alberto, in Italy. At 13, Mimo befriends the intelligent and strong-willed Viola Orsini, who's the same age and whose father owns an orange grove. Though Alberto despises him for his superior talent, he develops a close bond with Viola. Amid a series of tragedies and betrayals, Mimo toils in Florence and later joins the circus. His friendship with Viola is tested when he begins sculpting for the ascendant Fascist regime, which she vehemently opposes. In a breathtaking twist, Mimo reveals just how Viola came to inspire the pietà. Throughout, Andrea blends the tumultuous history of 20th-century Italy with finely wrought character work. It's a marvel.
