Trust

Description

Pietro and Teresa's love affair is tempestuous and passionate. After yet another terrible argument, she gets an idea: they should tell each other something they've never told another person, something they're too ashamed to tell anyone. In this way, Teresa thinks, they will remain intimately connected forever. A few days after sharing their shameful secrets, they break up. Not long after, Pietro meets Nadia, falls in love, and proposes. But the shadow of the secret he confessed to Teresa haunts him, and Teresa herself periodically reappears, standing at the crossroads of every major moment in his life. Or is it he who seeks her out? Trust asks how much we are willing to bend to show the world our best side, knowing full well that when we are at our most vulnerable we are also at our most dangerous.

Domenico Starnone was born in Naples and lives in Rome. He is the author of thirteen works of fiction, including First Execution (Europa, 2009), Via Genito, winner of Italy's most prestigious literary prize, the Strega, and Ties (Europa, 2017), a New York Times Editors' Pick, and The Sunday Times' best novel in translation of 2017.

"[Starnone] portrays unflinchingly the violence, physical and verbal, that can erupt within the closest relationships." * Financial Times (Best book of the week) * "One of Italy's most accomplished novelists." * The Guardian * "Starnone packs a huge amount into a small compass." * The Sunday Times * "What is most thrilling about Trust is its overwhelming sense of unease.... the selves we "make" for ourselves and others may be the most dangerous of the stories we tell." * The Times Literary Supplement * "There's a big #MeToo moment in this novel [...]. Absolutely brilliant! I have to say: Jhumpa Lahiri has done an amazing job. She is the best translator a writer could wish for." * RTE, Arena * "A short, sharp novel that cuts like a scalpel to the core of its characters." * Los Angeles Times * "A sweeping examination of aging, love, and success, Trust allows readers to define the boundaries of the novel's marriage and families for themselves. This is the third of Starnone's novels that Lahiri has translated over the last six years, and her deft hand seamlessly reveals Starnone's masterful narrative at every turn." * Booklist * "Readers get two powerhouse writers with this novel, since the book was translated from Italian by author Jhumpa Lahiri." * Boston.com * "An Italian master gives it a suspenseful twist in this vibrant novel that's equal parts Endless Love, la dolce vita, and unreliable narration....A rip of a read." * Oprah Daily * "Trust unfolds with all the tension of a thriller despite much of the action taking place in the mind of the protagonist." * Big Issue North *