Overview

Architect Carmine and translator Ivana were once lovers. Their child died and their relationship ended but now, decades on, both with marriages and children of their own, they are friends. During a bout of pneumonia, Carmine - uneasy in his life of aspiration and materialism - begins to look back over opportunities missed and choices made. Set against postwar social breakdown, the melancholic, quietly dazzling Family elegantly examines the human condition and what brings happiness to a life. Borghesia is a delicate evocation of one life and the relationships that constrain and define it. In both novellas, underneath a subtle, stripped-down prose and a rich cast of characters, runs a seam of unhappiness and isolation, as Natalia Ginzburg explores the allure of memories and the complexity of family and relationships.

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9781914198847

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Reviews

'Ginzburg gives us a new template for the female voice and an idea of what it might sound like.' --Rachel Cusk 'Ginzburg's beautiful words have such solidarity. I read her with joy and amazement.' --Tessa Hadley '[Ginzburg's] stories have a subtle power that catches you at the end. . . each sings with the characteristic wit and piercing clarity of prose that holds you rapt when you read her work.' --Paris Review Daily 'These two novellas are suffused with the rigorous wisdom Ginzburg earned through calamity and her determination to persist nonetheless in her work.' --Los Angeles Review of Books 'I'm utterly entranced by Ginzburg's style - her mysterious directness, her salutary ability to lay things bare that never feels contrived or cold, only necessary, honest, clear.' --Maggie Nelson

Author Information

Natalia Ginzburg (1916-1991) was born in Palermo, Sicily. She wrote dozens of essays, plays, short stories and novels, including All Our Yesterdays, Voices in the Evening, and Family Lexicon.

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