Malacqua: Four Days of Rain in the City of Naples, Waiting for the Occurrence of an Extraordinary Event - Paperback

by Nicola Pugliese (Author), Shaun Whiteside (Translator)

After a four-day deluge, Naples is flooded. Buildings collapse, sinkholes appear. Strange events spread across the city: ghostly voices emanate from a medieval castle and five-lire coins begin to play music, but only to ten-year-old children. A melancholy journalist searches for meaning as the narrative takes us into the minds of those who have suffered in the floods.

Despite phenomenal initial success, the novel was withdrawn from publication at the author's request, and not reissued until after his death in 2012. Now translated into English for the first time, Malacqua remains a timely critique and a richly peopled portrait of a much-mythologised city.

Author Biography

Nicola Pugliese: Nicola Pugliese (Milan, 1944 - Avella, 2012) lived almost all his life in Naples. His only novel, Malacqua, was published by Italo Calvino when he was the publisher at the renowned publishing house Einaudi.
Shaun Whiteside: Shaun Whiteside is an award-winning translator from Italian, French, German and Dutch. He lives in London, UK.