The Brittle Age

Description

WINNER OF THE 2024 STREGA PRIZE AND THE 2024 YOUTH STREGA PRIZE

★ “A gut-wrenching excavation of generational trauma… this contemplative novel offers a subtle but piercing meditation on the complex dynamics between parents and children.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Acclaimed Italian author Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s best-selling novel to date, The Brittle Age is a powerful mother and daughter story and a profound exploration of human fragility and the haunting shadows of the past

In the 1990s, deep in the Maiella mountains of Central Italy, a brutal crime shatters the peace of the local community. Two young women are murdered, a third left for dead. Lucia is twenty years old back, and the only survivor is her best friend.   

Now, Lucia is a physiotherapist, separating from her husband, her daughter Amanda studying in Milan.  When the pandemic forces Amanda to return to the family’s home near Pescara, Lucia’s memories are reawakened, and with them the impact of past trauma. 

Set against the backdrop of the rugged Apennine mountains, this gripping psychological family drama weaves Lucia and Amanda’s personal struggles with the mystery of the tragedy that marked their familial land decades earlier.  

Inspired by true events, The Brittle Age is a tale of individual resilience, and a commentary on the indelible impact of historical events on personal lives and the broader community.   

Binding Type: Paperback
Contributors: Donatella Di Pietrantonio, Ann Goldstein (Translator)
Published: 06/03/2025
Publisher: Europa Editions
ISBN: 9798889660873
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 0.65″ H x 8.25″ L x 5.40″ W

About the Author
Goldstein, Ann: – Ann Goldstein has translated into English all of Elena Ferrante’s books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Lying Life of Adults and The Story of the Lost Child, which was also shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. She has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship and is the recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Award. She lives in New York.Di Pietrantonio, Donatella: – Donatella Di Pietrantonio lives in Penne, Abruzzo, where she practices as a pediatric dentist. From the age of nine she has been writing stories, fables, poems, and novels. Her short fiction has been published by Granta Italy, and her novel, Bella mia, was nominated for the Strega Prize and won the Brancati Prize. 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, her fifth novel, was longlisted for the Strega Prize.