The Day Before Happiness

byErri De Luca, Jill Foulston (Translator)
A young orphan boy grows up in Naples, playing football, roaming the city's streets and hidden places. The older boys call him 'monkey' because he can climb anywhere. He is alone, apart from Don Gaetano, the apartment caretaker, who feeds him, teaches him to play scopa, and tells him stories about women, history and the dark secrets of Naples' past. Then one day the boy sees a young girl standing at a window. It is an encounter that will haunt his life for years and, eventually, shape his destiny.

Lyrical and exuberant, told with the simplicity of a fairy tale and the intensity of a memory, The Day Before Happiness is the story of friendship, a city and what makes us who we are.

Powered by a combination of charm, warmth and simplicity... poignancy gives way to wry humour at regular intervals throughout the book, and the result is a brittle, lyrical, finely poised tragicomedy

Malcolm Forbes, Herald Scotland

About Erri De Luca

Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780141984506
  • Length: 128 pages
  • Dimensions: 198mm x 7mm x 129mm
  • Weight: 102g
  • Price: £8.99
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