Thursday 1 May, 6.30pm
The Brittle Age – Donatella Di Pietrantonio in conversation with Ian Thomson
Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s latest novel, L’età fragile, won the 2024 Strega Prize and has been translated into over 20 languages.
Now published by Europa Editions in Anne Goldstein’s translation, The Brittle Age is a deep, true-crime inspired exploration of the secrets and stories at the heart of family, friendship, and community.
Deep in the Maiella mountains, a brutal crime shatters the local community. Two young women are murdered, with a third left for dead. Lucia is twenty years old. The only survivor is her childhood friend.
Thirty years later, as the pandemic forces Lucia’s daughter Amanda to return to the family home, Lucia’s memories are reawakened, and with them the impact of the past.
Set against the backdrop of the rugged Apennines, this gripping psychological drama intricately weaves a mother and daughter’s personal struggles with the mystery of a tragedy that marked their homeland decades earlier.
Inspired by true events, Di Pietrantonio’s The Brittle Age is a tale of resilience, and a deft excavation of the haunting shadows of the past.
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Donatella Di Pietrantonio lives in Penne, Abruzzo, where she practices as a pediatric dentist. A Girl Returned, her third novel, won the Campiello Prize. A Sister’s Story was a finalist for the 2021 Strega Prize and a New Yorker Best Book of 2022. The Brittle Age won the Strega Prize in 2024.
Ian Thomson is a journalist and writer with an interest in Italy. He is the author of a biography of Primo Levi and is currently writing a book about the Baltic during World War 2.