Tartufo
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- $279.00
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- $279.00
Descripción editorial
From the author of Hollow Kingdom, a fantastically funny story featuring a cast of colorful characters in a dying Italian village and a giant truffle that changes their fate forever in this “deliciously absurd tale....I savored every page of this book.” (Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures)
A 2025 Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction
After nearly losing the election to a geriatric donkey, newly installed Mayor Delizia Miccuci can’t help but feel like the sun has finally set on the rural Italian village of Lazzarini Boscarino. Tourists only stop by to ask for directions, Nonna Amara’s cherished ristorante is long shuttered, and the town hall is disgustingly overrun with glis glis poo—even Postman Duccio has been disgraced. All that’s left is Bar Celebrità, a rustic establishment where weary locals gather to quibble over decades-long disputes, submit their poor stomachs to bartender Giuseppina’s volcanic espresso, and wonder what will become of the place where together they’ve spent their entire lives.
Little do the villagers know that local truffle hunter Giovanni Scarpazza has just happened upon something that could change everything. A truffle—un tartufo, that is—sits beneath the soil with the power to either be the greatest gift or the foulest curse the village has ever seen.
Written with the same enchanting style and raucous humor that defines Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures, Tartufo is a reflection on the interconnectedness of life in all its manifestations—and how holding on to harmony in the face of hardship can grow something beautiful and rare beneath the surface.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A giant truffle brings hope to a down on its luck Tuscan town in this fun if over-the-top farce from Buxton (Hollow Kingdom). After a truffle dog unearths a six-pound, 14-ounce specimen, the villagers of Lazzarini Boscarino hope it will bring a much-needed influx of funds. They're often overlooked by tourists in favor of Borghese, the next town over, which is known for its festivals and its Michelin-starred restaurant run by Umberto Micucci, native son of Lazzarini Boscarino. Umberto's sister-in-law, Delizia, Lazzarini Boscarino's mayor, is tasked with keeping the truffle safe until it can be appraised and auctioned off by Sotheby's. A distinctive group of villagers help Delizia, including a scowling elderly man regularly referred to as the "disgraced postman" for a long-ago scandal, a wheelchair-using retired driver whose brightly colored pants can allegedly "be seen from outer space," and an octogenarian restaurateur who recently lost her establishment to a landslide. Some of the writing is clever (Delizia "put her heart, soul, and a sizable number of sedatives into her run for election"), though Buxton too often exhibits a weakness for excess (during a commotion in a bar, bottles of wine are seen "leaping from a shelf to their deaths," causing the barkeep to emit "vinegar fumes of fury"). There are laughs to be had, but Buxton has done better.
