In Farthest Seas - (Pushkin Press Classics) by Lalla Romano (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A breathtakingly beautiful novel about the first 4 years and last 4 months of a great love, by a "lacerating, luminous" Italian author (Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Interpreter of Maladies)

Perfect for fans of short, razor-sharp modern literary classics like Annie Ernaux and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking

Upon the death of her husband, Innocenzo Monti, Lalla Romano sought to distil the essence of their long life together. The result was In Farthest Seas a piercingly intimate retelling of the first 4 years and final 4 months of their relationship, built from shard-like moments of connection and revelation.

The 1st section spans the couple's early attraction, which developed through long conversations on hikes in the mountains surrounding Cuneo, to their wedding and arrival at their first home together. A subtle note of elegy sounds through these recollections of love, and this note comes to the fore in the longer 2nd section that recounts the final 4 months of Innocenzo's life.

With precise artistry, Romano braids together seemingly minor details--the expressiveness of Innocenzo's hands, the beauty of his face in sleep, a fleeting instance of pallor--that come to reveal the barest truths of life and death. Unsparing yet tender, minimal yet monumental, In Farthest Seas is a startlingly moving elegy, and perhaps the greatest work by a rediscovered Italian master, who's been compared to Natalia Ginzburg and Cesare Pavese.

Review Quotes

"Her language is incredible, essential in its quality... An extraordinarily powerful book"
--Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Whereabouts

"Autofiction at its most elegant... It's a sign of the quality of the writing, and power of Brian Robert Moore's beautiful translation, that even when reading analytically as a reviewer, I often found myself putting the book down still in a dream of its voice"
--Irish Times

"Romano's miraculous work opens layer by layer, always guarding its innermost mystery. This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read"
--Ayşegül Savaş, author of The Anthropologists

"Beautiful. Romano is, for me, the Italian Annie Ernaux"
--Sara Baume, author of Seven Steeples

"This is a book for those who know that the best time to take a walk in a cemetery is when you're wildly in love"
--Catherine Lacey, author of Biography of X

"Has a subtle beauty... It is in this depiction of a literary intimacy that blurs the boundary between fiction and biography that In Farthest Seas truly impresses"
--Francesca Peacock, Spectator

"There is passion in this book, and a sense of intimacy that will engage the reader from the very beginning. Reading In Farthest Seas is like listening to a melancholy melody played during a light rain. It's noticeable, but soft and alluring."
--Andrew Martino, Reading in Translation

About the Author

Lalla Romano (1906-2001) was an Italian novelist, poet, translator and visual artist. Initially more active as a painter, from the 1940s Romano turned increasingly to writing, publishing her first poetry collection in 1941. During the Second World War she returned to her home province of Cuneo and became involved with the partisans. Her first novel, Maria, was published in 1953, and she went on to become one of Italy's most renowned writers, earning the Pavese Prize and the Strega Prize. Her novel A Silence Shared is also available from Pushkin Press.

Brian Robert Moore has translated works by Italian authors such as Michele Mari, Lalla Romano and Goliarda Sapienza. For his translations, he has received the O. Henry Prize and two PEN Translates Awards. His translation of A Silence Shared was runner-up for the 2024 John Florio Prize and shortlisted for the 2023 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation.