The important things

Becoming a father is a huge change in a man’s life, as he needs to change the center of gravity in his life, from himself to his children, from learning to teaching. This is real life: unforeseeable, surprising, and extraordinary.

This and much more is at the core of "Le cose fondamentali" (Einaudi), the latest book by Tiziano Scarpa, just being published, a year and a half after the great success of his Stabat Mater winner of the Strega literary Prize.

Book: Tiziano Scarpa, Stabat Mater

Tiziano Scarpa, Stabat Mater (Einaudi, 17 euros, pp.136).

The novel is the journal of Cecilia, an adolescent orphan in 18th Century Venice.
In her diary, the young girl addresses the mother she never met; she dialogues with death, and experiences the outside world, solely through the narrations of others.
Her gloomy view of existence changes significantly when she encounters a charismatic and challenging music teacher, Antonio Vivaldi. This is not a love story, but rather a novel of rebellion, which aims to suggest that in any moment in life one can change, grow and begin a new life!
The novel’s crystalline and at the same time, whirling style captures the reader to the last page.
“Stabat Mater” is a little (just in size) masterpiece to read all in one go!