Overview

In 1930s Italy a young girl falls in love for the first time, with devastating consequences; introduction by Elizabeth Strout 'Life was a perpetual holiday in those days...' It's the height of summer in 1930s Italy, and sixteen-year-old Ginia is desperate for adventure. So begins a fateful friendship with Amelia, a stylish and sophisticated artist's model who envelops her in a dazzling new world of bohemian artists and intoxicating freedom. Under the spell of her new friends, Ginia soon falls in love with Guido, an enigmatic young painter. It's the start of a desperate love affair, charged with false hope and overwhelming passion - destined to last no longer than the course of a summer. The Beautiful Summer is a gorgeous coming-of-age tale of lost innocence and first love, by one of Italy's greatest writers.

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9780241983393

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[Pavese writes books of] extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meanings -- Italo Calvino There is something about [Pavese] that is insinuating, haunting and lyrically pervasive * New York Times Book Review * Cesare Pavese's cool, contemplative voice was the most important among postwar Italian writers -- W. S. DiPiero One of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century -- Susan Sontag Pavese, to me, is a constant source of inspiration -- Jhumpa Lahiri

One of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century -- Susan Sontag [Pavese writes books of] extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meanings -- Italo Calvino There is something about [Pavese] that is insinuating, haunting and lyrically pervasive * New York Times Book Review * Cesare Pavese's cool, contemplative voice was the most important among postwar Italian writers -- W. S. DiPiero Pavese, to me, is a constant source of inspiration -- Jhumpa Lahiri

Author Information

Cesare Pavese (Author) Cesare Pavese was born in 1908 in Santo Stefano Belbo, a village in the hills of Piedmont. He worked as a translator (of Melville, Joyce and Faulkner) and as an editor for the publishing house Einaudi Editore, while also publishing his own poetry and a string of successful novels, including The House on the Hill and The Moon and the Bonfires. Never actively anti-Fascist himself, he was nevertheless sent into internal exile in Calabria in 1935 for having aided other subversives. He killed himself in 1950, shortly after receiving Italy's most prestigious literary prize, the Strega. Elizabeth Strout (Introducer) Elizabeth Strout is the Pulitzer prize-winning author of My Name is Lucy Barton, Anything is Possible, Oh William!, Amy and Isabelle, Abide With Me, The Burgess Boys, Olive Kitteridge, and Olive, Again. She has been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize. She lives in Maine.

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