In Farthest Seas

A breathtakingly beautiful novel about the first 4 years and last 4 months of a great love, by a "lacerating, luminous" Italian author (Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Interpreter of Maladies) < p/> Perfect for fans of short, razor-sharp modern literary classics like Annie Ernaux and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking < p/> Upon the death of her husband, Innocenzo Monti, Lalla Romano sought to distil the essence of their long life together. The result was In Farthest Seas a piercingly intimate retelling of the first 4 years and final 4 months of their relationship, built from shard-like moments of connection and revelation. < p/> The 1st section spans the couple's early attraction, which developed through long conversations on hikes in the mountains surrounding Cuneo, to their wedding and arrival at their first home together. A subtle note of elegy sounds through these recollections of love, and this note comes to the fore in the longer 2nd section that recounts the final 4 months of Innocenzo's life. < p/> With precise artistry, Romano braids together seemingly minor details--the expressiveness of Innocenzo's hands, the beauty of his face in sleep, a fleeting instance of pallor--that come to reveal the barest truths of life and death. Unsparing yet tender, minimal yet monumental, In Farthest Seas is a startlingly moving elegy, and perhaps the greatest work by a rediscovered Italian master, who's been compared to Natalia Ginzburg and Cesare Pavese.