Verdigris

Synopsis

At the end of the 1960s, thirteen-year-old Michelino spends his summers at his grandparents' estate near Italy's Lake Maggiore, escaping into the horror, adventure, and mystery novels that fill his grandfather's library. But the greatest mystery he encounters is not found on the shelves. It is Felice, the aging groundskeeper—a man who is by turns gentle, frightening, eccentric, and increasingly forgetful. As Michelino devises ways to help Felice preserve his fading memory, he becomes consumed by the fragments of the old man's past, uncovering buried secrets involving wartime violence, hidden skeletons, ghosts, and a lifetime of stories that may or may not be true.

Winner of the 2025 PEN Translation Prize, Verdigris is a dazzling blend of gothic fiction, coming-of-age story, historical mystery, and literary fantasy. Michele Mari moves effortlessly between childhood wonder and historical darkness, creating a novel that is playful, unsettling, and deeply moving. Brilliantly translated by Brian Robert Moore, Verdigris confirms Mari's place among Italy's most original contemporary writers.

About the Author

Michele Mari is one of Italy's most celebrated contemporary writers. The author of numerous novels, poetry collections, and works of literary criticism, he has received many of Italy's highest literary honours, including the Bagutta Prize and the Grinzane Cavour Prize. His fiction is renowned for its rich literary imagination, formal inventiveness, and fascination with memory, myth, and the gothic. This edition is translated from the Italian by Brian Robert Moore, whose translations have earned international acclaim, including the 2025 PEN Translation Prize for Verdigris.

Publisher

And Other Stories

Publication Date

January 2, 2024

Format

Paperback

Pages

240

Subjects

Literary Fiction · Fiction in Translation · Italian Literature · Gothic Fiction · Historical Fiction · Coming-of-Age

ISBN

9781913505905