Tell Me About It
by Sacha Naspini
(Translated from the Italian by Clarissa Botsford)
Nives by Sacha Naspini was first published in 2020, and is now being issued by Europa Editions in a translation from the Italian by Clarissa Botsford with the title Tell Me About It. It is a wicked little novella which can be read in one sitting, but which packs a punch and leaves a bittersweet aftertaste, not unlike a shot of grappa.
The book starts off quite wackily. On the very first page, Nives’s husband Anteo Raulli dies in a rather macabre accident on their farm in rural Tuscany. Once the funeral is over, and her daughter Laura goes back to Languedoc where she lives with her French husband and children, Nives tries to ward off loneliness by bringing her favourite hen Giacomina to live with her inside. Nives is surprised to notice that the hen’s company makes up more than adequately for Anteo. One night, however, Giacomina seems to fall into a trance. Panicked, Nives phones Loriano Bottai, the local vet who has cured the Raulli’s farm animals for decades. As the phone call proceeds, we realise that that Nives and Loriano share a colourful history beyond a pure professional relationship. It will be a night of shocking revelations, nostalgic reveries, painful discoveries and brief moments of unexpected tenderness.
To be honest, none of the characters come
across as particularly endearing – certainly not, to my mind, the acidic Nives
or the spineless Loriano. But I’m not one who believes that a story needs “lovable”
leads to be engrossing. Indeed, the dark humour of the barb-filled dialogue
between Nives and Loriano is what gives this novella its particular flavour.
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