General Fiction

Mare calmo, isolati misteri

(Smooth Sea, Isolated Mysteries)

Garzanti, June 2020, pp.240

Clumsy, funny, pathologically nosey and, above all, misanthropic, Martina lives in a lighthouse on a remote island in the Mediterranean. It is up to her to solve the mystery of the death of her elderly island neighbour, when she is not the least interested in other people. Although that might actually not exactly be the case.

English sample available

Martina has done everything to have a normal life. She has gone to parties, family dinners, and had the odd boyfriend. But, after years, she has realised that she doesn’t enjoy human company. As a matter of fact, she can’t stand it. She has discovered herself to be an incurable misanthrope. The only solution is to go away, far away. So she decides to relocate to a lighthouse on a remote island in the Mediterranean. Only, her solitary existence made up of just wind, sea and sky is disturbed by an invitation to dinner from the elderly resident of the neighbouring island. She certainly can’t refuse and is surprised by how little this man speaks – apparently even more of a misanthrope than she is… However, a few days later, she receives the terrible news that the elderly neighbour has hanged himself. Martina is in no way convinced by the theory of suicide. So much so that she begins to wonder if the few sentences uttered by the man at dinner could be nothing but clues for her, a request for help. And so she starts to investigate.

Garzanti, June 2020, pp.240

Simona Soldano

Simona Soldano was born in Rome, where she now lives. Since graduating from university, she has done various jobs, including being a bookseller and organiser of exhibitions and cultural events, as well as working with a few small Rome-based publishers. In 2008, she published the short story Sherlock Holmes e il furto della sacra soma (Sherlock Holmes and the Theft of the Sacred Load, MEf L’autore Libri Firenze), which was shortlisted for the Premio Bancarellino the following year. Mare calmo, isolati misteri is her first novel.

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