A novel of family life in post-war Sardinia.

“Powerful . . . The vivid descriptions of the Sardinian landscape are a fitting complement to the heroine’s conflicted heart” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). As this compelling novel opens, a young unnamed woman reflects on the life of her bewitching, eccentric, and fiercely emotional grandmother, whose abiding search for love spans much of the twentieth century. In 1943, as American bombs fall on the city of Cagliari, she is thirty and considered an old maid, still living at home with her parents. But when the bombing ceases, and despite her protests, her father forces her to marry the first man to propose, an older widower she doesn’t love. After suffering several miscarriages, she is sent for treatment at a spa on the mainland, where she falls in love with an injured Italian army veteran. Back home, she gives birth to a son. She never reveals the affair to her husband—but decades later, she returns to the mainland and travels to her former lover’s hometown of Milan. Dressed in her finest coat and shoes, she wanders the streets in search of the elusive veteran . . . Set against a backdrop of rugged mountains and Italian villages lost in time, this international bestselling novel is a multigenerational family saga about love, lust, and country. “Agus’s descriptions of the everyday are as beautiful and haunting as her portrayal of life’s most dramatic episodes. Add an unexpected ending and the result is a graceful, powerful book.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review.)

Fiction. Literature. HTML:But what do we really know about other people?

Set against the stunning Sardinian landscape of rugged mountains and villages lost in time, this internationally bestselling novel is a multi-generational family saga about love, lust, and country.
An young unnamed woman reflects on the life of her grandmother, a bewitching and eccentric figure whose abiding search for love spans much of the twentieth century. In 1943, as American bombs fall on the city of Cagliari, the young woman's grandmother is thirty and already considered an old maid, unmarried and still living at home with her parents. But when the bombing ceases, and despite her protests, her father forces her to marry the first man to propose, an older widower she doesn't love. After suffering several miscarriages, she is sent for treatment at a spa on the mainland, where she falls in love with an injured Italian army veteran and nine months later gives birth to a son. Attributing the pregnancy to her spa treatment, she returns to her husband and never reveals the affair. Decades later, she returns to the mainland and travels to her former lover's hometown of Milan. Dressed in her finest coat and shoes, she wanders the streets in search of the elusive veteran.

'But what do we really know about other people?' In this magical, jewel-like novel, a young Sardinian woman explores the life of her Nonna - her romantic, beautiful, and somewhat crazy grandmother. Nonna is an unforgettable character whose life spans much of the twentieth century. A dreamer with fierce loyalties and unbridled passions, we follow her search for perfect love to an ending both surprising and profound. Along the way, against the stunning Sardinian landscape of cities, marinas and mountains, we meet the members of her large family, and the mysterious Veteran, the man of her dreams- each one drawn with warmth, humour and deep insight. Milena Agus writes of family loves and secrets, of sexuality, of music, and of the harsh realities of war and migration in twentieth-century Europe in a powerful, compelling, and yet whimsical voice. A bestseller in Europe, The House in Via Manno introduces Milena Agus to English speaking readers in this sparkling translation by Brigid Maher.

A young Sardinian woman explores the life of her grandmother, a romantic, bewitching, eccentric figure. Her life has been characterized by honor and fierce passion, and above all by an abiding search for perfect love that has spanned much of the twentieth century. Ever in the background of this remarkable woman's story is the stunning Sardinian landscape, the deep blues of the Mediterranean, the rugged mountains of the Sardinian back country, dotted with charming villages lost in time.

A young Sardinian woman narrates the story of her beloved, beautiful, and somewhat crazy grandmother, and in the telling evokes a whole family, the unique landscape of her country, and an aspect of history, including the Second World War, from a perspective unusual for Australian readers.

Tells the story of a multi-generational family in Sardinia after World War II.

Au centre, l'h ro ne: une jeune Sarde trange aux longs cheveux noirs et aux yeux immenses . Toujours en d calage, toujours contretemps, toujours c t de sa propre vie... l'arri re-plan, les personnages secondaires, peints avec une extraordinaire finesse: le mari, pous sans amour, sensuel, taciturne, jamais m connu; le Rescap , br ve rencontre sur le continent, qui lui laisse une empreinte ind l bile; le fils, inesp r , et futur pianiste; enfin, la petite-fille, la narratrice de cette histoire, la seule qui permettra l'h ro ne de se r v ler dans sa v rit . Mais sait-on jamais tout de quelqu'un, aussi proche soit-il ?

Sprachniveau: B1