Helen Plum Library

"Giovanna's pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, looks more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Is she turning into her Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father clearly despise? Surely there is a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is. Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that...

Overview: Here is the dazzling saga of two women, the brilliant, bookish Elena and the fiery uncontainable Lila. In this book, both are adults; life's great discoveries have been made, its vagaries and losses have been suffered. Through it all, the women's friendship, examined in its every detail over the course of four books, remains the gravitational center of their lives. Both women once fought to escape the neighborhood in which they grew...

A socialite asks Guido Brunetti to investigate a murder that happened in the underworld surrounding southern Italy's garbage dumping grounds

The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. Through...

Sharp, succinct storytelling and breathtaking prose combine in this new novel by the author of Ties , a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and a Kirkus Reviews and Sunday Times Best Book of the Year. Trick is a stylish drama about ambition, family, and old-age that goes beyond the ordinary and predictable. Imagine a duel between two men. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator who, in the twilight of his years, feels that his reputation...

"Ella me demostró que yo no había ganado nada, simplemente porque en este mundo nuestro no había nada que ganar y lo que de verdad valía la pena era verse de vez en cuando para que el sonido enloquecido de nuestras mentes fuera rebotando de la una a la otra sin parar." Ella es una mujer hermosa, alocada, se llama Lila y ahora, recién cumplidos los dieciséis años, acaba de casarse con un hombre al que desprecia. La otra, que escucha, la sigue...

A partir de la década de 1950 Elena y Lila crecen en Nápoles, Italia, lo que refleja dos aspectos diferentes de su nación Beginning in the 1950s Elena and Lila grow up in Naples, Italy, mirroring two different aspects of their nation

"Sometimes it takes facing a formidable adversary to truly know one's worth. The Bastards of Pizzofalcone may have found just that: when the brutal murder of a baker rattles the city, they are ready to investigate. There's nothing they wouldn't do to prove themselves to their community. But this time the police are divided: for the special anti-mob branch, the local mafia is doubtlessly responsible for the crime, but the Bastards are not so sure."--Amazon...