“I was struck straightaway by the singular force of her taut, meditative, sorrowful writing.” -- Jhumpa Lahiri
A diamond-sharp, Italian classic about the mysterious relationships between two partisan couples in German-occupied Italy in the wintry mountains of Piemonte
This hauntingly beautiful, sharply modern novel of WWII is perfect for fans of Tove Ditlevsen, Rachel Cusk, and Lucia Berlin
Translated into English for the first time, A Silence Shared is a captivating classic novel that inhabits the silent spaces between historic events, depicting the mysterious luminosity of human relationships in extraordinary circumstances.
In prose of subtle, enigmatic atmospheres and acutely precise images, Lalla Romano evokes both the tension and the stillness of life in occupied Italy.
Sheltering from the war in a provincial town outside of Turin, Giulia and her husband Stefano feel an instant affinity with Ada and Paolo: she a spontaneous, vibrant young woman, he a sickly intellectual, a teacher and partisan in hiding.
As the Germans begin to occupy Italy, a subtle dance of attractions between the couples begins, intensified by their shared isolation and the muffled hum of threat over a long, hard winter.
About the Author
Graziella 'Lalla' Romano (1906-2001) was an Italian novelist, poet, translator and visual artist. Initially more interested in painting, from the 1940s Romano turned increasingly to writing, publishing her first poetry collection in 1941. During World War II she returned to her home province of Cuneo and became involved with the partisans. Her first novel, Maria, was published in 1951, and she went on to become one of Italy's most renowned writers, earning the Pavese Prize and the Strega Prize before her death at the age of 94.
Brian Robert Moore is a literary translator originally from New York City. His published and forthcoming translations include Meeting in Positano by Goliarda Sapienza, A Silence Shared by Lalla Romano, and two works of fiction by Michele Mari. He received the 2021 PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature and a 2022 Translation Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Praise For…
“Thanks to this new translation… another unveiling of a great Italian writer is about to begin… Her writing fascinates because so much of it circles around how we construct and remember the lives we lead, those moments and elements that are mysterious and impossible to communicate.” --Los Angeles Review of Books
“Her work deserves to be read alongside other titans of 20th-century Italian literature such as Natalia Ginzburg, Cesare Pavese and Italo Calvino (all of whom knew and revered her)… Told with magnificent restraint, and without the tensions ever breaking the novel’s serene, crystalline structure, A Silence Shared is a wonderful taste of Romano’s work.” --The Spectator “When a book is praised by three of Italy’s greatest 20th-century writers – Giorgio Bassani, Italo Calvino and Natalia Ginzburg – you pay attention... through short scenes and spare dialogue, Romano successfully creates a mood of stasis, anticipation and guilt.” --The Guardian
“Reading this beguiling book was not unlike watching light and shadow complicate the surface of a still, deep pool of summer water. Hats off to Brian Robert Moore for the stunning translation.” --Sunjeev Sahota, Lithub
“Exquisite.” --Irish Times
"Romano writes in a dreamlike present, which is to say the present that appears to us in dreams... clear and full of shadows, concrete and out of reach." --Natalia Ginzburg
"A subtle and captivating story... An incredibly complex and tough knot of human ties, [explored] with a heightened sensitivity that never falters." --Italo Calvino
