Outsiders

Description

In Roberto Saviano's The Opposite of Death, a town in southern Italy is haunted by the war in Afghanistan, where one by one its sons are dying. In Ferengi, Carlo Lucarelli explores the Italian settlement of Eritrea a century ago, when the actions of a maid became pivotal to the fate of an exploitative colonial family. Valeria Parrella's The Prize, set in the Italian countryside during the Second World War, reminds us that revenge is a dish best served cold, while Piero Colaprico's Stairway C is a breathless Milanese crime novel in miniature. Grassroots writers' collective Wu Ming show how an Italian cheese-maker can become a hero in American Parmesan, and in Another Kind of Solitude, Simona Vinci suggests that it is only when we are on the outside, or alone, that we find true freedom.

Roberto Saviano writes for La Repubblica as well as many newspapers around the world. After the success of Gomorrah, he received several serious death threats that obliged the Italian government to provide him with 24-hour protection. He has been living in hiding since 2006. Carlo Lucarelli is a novelist and crime writer and co-founder of writers' collective Gruppo 13; Piero Colaprico is one of Italy's most successful crime writers; Simona Vinci's A Game We Play was a highly controversial international bestseller; Valeria Parrella won the Premio Campiello for best debut in 2004; The Wu Ming Foundation is a collective of novelists and cultural activists whose slogan is 'The Good Side of Italy'.

'A fine collection of short stories' Mark Sanderson, Sunday Telegraph. * Sunday Telegraph *