The Brittle Age
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
"Intricate and subtle."--Miranda France, The Telegraph
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Di Pietrantonio (A Sister Story) offers a gut-wrenching excavation of generational trauma rooted in a 1992 double homicide in the Apennine mountains of central Italy. Lucia, a physiotherapist, has lived her whole life near the now abandoned alpine campground still owned by her father, Rocco, where the murders took place decades earlier. Her 20-year-old daughter, Amanda, has left for college in Milan, but when the Covid-19 pandemic forces her back home, she stops studying and keeps to her room. Lucia's narration shifts fluidly between past and present, as Rocco's insistence on deeding the campground to Lucia conjures memories of the murders. Lucia was 20 when two young women were raped and killed by a laborer working for one of the local shepherds. The perpetrator also nearly killed Lucia's best friend, Doralice Damiani, from whom Lucia has been estranged since the attack. As Lucia weighs her uneasy inheritance, Di Pietrantonio doles out the details of the crime, the reasons for the friends' rupture, and the cause of Amanda's withdrawal, revealing striking parallels between mother and daughter. In crystalline prose, this contemplative novel offers a subtle but piercing meditation on the complex dynamics between parents and children.
