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Reading lists

9 beach reads set in Italy

The Moon and the Bonfires

<a href="https://shop.penguin.co.uk/collections/book-bundles-modern-classics/?&amp;utm_source=Penguin.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=Linked_text&amp;utm_campaign=Penguin_Modern_Classics_Series_26_06">Choose 3 timeless classics for only £21 over on the Penguin Shop</a>

Pavese is one of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century

Pavese's nine short novels make up the most dense, dramatic, and homogeneous narrative cycle of modern Italy ... But above all they are works of an extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meanings

Cesare Pavese's cool, contemplative voice was the most important among postwar Italian writers

Insinuating, haunting and lyrically pervasive

The Moon and the Bonfires [is Pavese's] masterpiece on the aftermath of the partisan war in the hills around Turin

The Beautiful Summer

'An astonishing portrait of an innocent on the verge of discovering the cruelties of love... there are whispers here of the future work of Elena Ferrante' Elizabeth Strout, from the introduction 
 
'Life was a perpetual holiday in those days...' 
 
It's the height of summer in 1930s Italy and sixteen-year-old Ginia is desperate for adventure. So begins a fateful friendship with Amelia, a stylish and sophisticated artist's model who envelops her in a dazzling new world of bohemian artists and intoxicating freedom. Under the spell of her new friends, Ginia soon falls in love with Guido, an enigmatic young painter. It's the start of a desperate love affair, charged with false hope and overwhelming passion - destined to last no longer than the course of a summer. 
 
The Beautiful Summer is a gorgeous coming-of-age tale of lost innocence and first love, by one of Italy's greatest writers. 
 
'Pavese, to me, is a constant source of inspiration' Jhumpa Lahiri 
 
'One of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century' Susan Sontag 
 
'[Pavese writes books of] extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meaning' Italo Calvino 
 
'For my trip to Los Angeles, I'm packing The Beautiful Summer, a slender account of love in 1930s Italy' Jessie Burton, bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse

An astonishing portrait of an innocent on the verge of discovering the cruelties of love... an inimitable read... there are whispers here of the future work of Elena Ferrante

One of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century

There is never any doubt of Pavese's talent

[Pavese writes books of] extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meanings

There is something about [Pavese] that is insinuating, haunting and lyrically pervasive

Cesare Pavese's cool, contemplative voice was the most important among postwar Italian writers

Pavese, to me, is a constant source of inspiration

For my trip to Los Angeles, I'm packing Cesare Pavese's The Beautiful Summer, with an introduction by Elizabeth Strout, a slender account of love in 1930s Italy

Jessie Burton, bestselling author of 'The Miniaturist'

Reminds one very much of the trajectory of the relationship between two young people at the heart of André Aciman's Call Me By Your Name

Penguin's re-release of Cesare Pavese's The Beautiful Summer (as choice a pick as its title implies) is simply gorgeous

Marie Claire - Best Books to Read This Summer

Pavese writes with a vivid quietude that is always engaging

We must be grateful to the Penguin European Writers series, a precious venture in these dark times

'An astonishing portrait of an innocent on theverge of discovering the cruelties of love... an inimitable read' Elizabeth Strout, from the introduction 
 
'Life was a perpetual holiday in those days...' 
 
 It's the height of summer in 1930s Italy, and sixteen-year-old Ginia is desperate for adventure. So begins a fateful friendship with Amelia, a stylish and sophisticated artist's model who envelops her in a dazzling new world of bohemian artists and intoxicating freedom. Under the spell of her new friends, Ginia soon falls in love with Guido, an enigmatic young painter. It's the start of a desperate love affair, charged with false hope and overwhelming passion - destined to last no longer than the course of a summer. 
 
 The Beautiful Summer is a heart-wrenching tale of lost innocence and first love, by one of Italy's greatest writers.

'Life was a perpetual holiday in those days...' 
 
It's the height of summer in 1930s Italy, and sixteen-year-old Ginia is desperate for adventure. So begins a fateful friendship with Amelia, a stylish and sophisticated artist's model who envelops her in a dazzling new world of bohemian artists and intoxicating freedom. Under the spell of her new friends, Ginia soon falls in love with Guido, an enigmatic young painter. It's the start of a desperate love affair, charged with false hope and overwhelming passion - destined to last no longer than the course of a summer. 
 
The Beautiful Summer is a gorgeous coming-of-age tale of lost innocence and first love, by one of Italy's greatest writers.

Cesare Pavese

Tim Parks

Shortlisted for The Society of Authors Translation Award 2022 
 
June, 1943. Allied aircraft are bombing industrial Turin; Fascist Italy seems to be on its knees. Corrado, a teacher, is staying in relative safety in the hills above the city. He has no attachments and claims to be happy that way. But against his better judgement he is drawn into a circle of anti-fascists who congregate at a nearby tavern. As the authorities' net closes around his friends, Corrado must face a painful choice: emotional and political commitment, with all its dangers - or devastating retreat.

Cesare Pavese

The House on the Hill

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