EVERYBODY NEEDS SOMEBODY, SOMETIMES . . . Lorenzo Cuni is a fourteen-year-old loner. His wealthy parents think he is away on a school skiiing trip, but in fact he has stowed away in a forgotten cellar. He plans to live in perfect isolation, for a week, keeping the adult world at bay. Then a visit from his estranged half-sister, Olivia, changes everything.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘The new Italian word for talent is Ammaniti’ –The Times
‘A fearsomely gifted writer’ –Independent
‘A master storyteller’ –Guardian
‘The story of a young boy who’s heading towards adulthood. This book amazed me’ –Bernardo Bertolucci
‘Exuberant and audacious’ — Observer
‘An original, thought-provoking and well-written piece of fiction… Ammaniti takes us on a remarkable voyage through the fear of future responsibility which awaits young people on the brink of adulthood and laces it with all the irony, self-criticism and self-indulgence familiar to that age-group. This is a powerful novel, which asks us to consider the relationships we have with our own siblings and the memories of our own adolescence’ — Emilia Ippolito, The Independent
‘Near perfect […] this small gem of storytelling has the balance just about right’ –Scotland on Sunday
About the Author
Niccolò Ammaniti was born in Rome in 1966. He is the author of six novels translated into English and two short story collections. Several of his novels have been adapted for film, including Steal You Away, which was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, The Crossroads, winner of the Premio Strega Prize 2007, and the international bestseller I’m Not Scared, which won the prestigious Italian Viareggio-Repaci Prize for Fiction and has been translated into thirty-five languages.
Kylee Doust studied Italian literature and linguistics at La Trobe University, Melbourne. She has lived in Italy since 1998.