A Silence Shared

2023 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation LonglistForced back to her remote hometown by the war, Giulia is immediately drawn to a couple in a similar situation: graceful, spontaneous Ada & her husband Paolo, a sickly teacher & partisan in hiding. Joined from Torino by Giulia’s husband Stefano, the two couples form an intense bond; as the Germans begin to occupy Italy, a subtle dance of attractions begins, intensified by their shared isolation & the muffled hum of threat over a long, hard winter.In prose of subtle, enigmatic atmospheres & acutely precise images, Lalla Romano evokes both the tension & the stillness of life in occupied Italy. 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.°°° Graziella ‘Lalla’ Romano (1906-2001) was an Italian novelist, poet, translator & 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 & became involved with the partisans. Her first novel, Maria, was published in 1953, & she went on to become one of Italy’s most renowned writers, earning the Pavese Prize & the Strega Prize before her death at the age of 94.Brian Robert Moore has translated A Silence Shared by Lalla Romano, Meeting in Positano by Goliarda Sapienza, & the work of other distinguished Italian authors. He has received a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship, a Santa Maddalena Foundation Fellowship & the PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature. His translation of the novel Verdigris by Michele Mari is forthcoming from And Other Stories. “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. A diamond-sharp, captivating Italian classic about the mysterious relationships between two couples in occupied Italy, in English for the first time '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 Forced back to her remote hometown by the war, Giulia is immediately drawn to a couple in a similar situation: graceful, spontaneous Ada and her husband Paolo, a sickly teacher and partisan in hiding. Joined from Turin by Giulia's husband Stefano, the two couples form an intense bond; as the Germans begin to occupy Italy, a subtle dance of attractions begins, intensified by their shared isolation and the muffled hum of threat over a long, hard winter. In prose of subtle, enigmatic atmospheres and acutely precise images, Lalla Romano evokes both the tension and the stillness of life in occupied Italy. 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. "Evokes both the tension and the stillness of life in occupied Italy. Forced back to her remote hometown by the war, Giulia is immediately drawn to a couple in a similar situation: graceful, spontaneous Ada and her husband Paolo, a sickly teacher and partisan in hiding. Joined from Turin by Giulia's husband Stefano, the two couples form an intense bond; as the Germans begin to occupy Italy, a subtle dance of attractions begins, intensified by their shared isolation and the muffled hum of threat over a long, hard winter."--Publisher Sheltering from the war in her remote hometown, Giulia is immediately drawn to a couple in a similar situation: graceful, spontaneous Ada and her husband Paolo, a sickly teacher and partisan in hiding. When Giulia's husband Stefano joins them from Turin, the two couples form an intense bond; as the Germans begin to occupy Italy, a subtle dance of attractions develops, intensified by their shared isolation and the muffled hum of threat over a long, hard winter