Strangers I Know

"Durastanti casts the universal drama of the family as the sieve through which the self-woman, artist, daughter-is filtered and known." -Ocean VuongA work of fiction about being a stranger in your own family and life.Every family has its own mythology, but in this family none of the myths match up. Claudia's mother says she met her husband when she stopped him from jumping off a bridge. Her father says it happened when he saved her from an attempted robbery. Both parents are deaf but couldn't be more different; they can't even agree on how they met, much less who needed saving.Into this unlikely yet somehow inevitable union, our narrator is born. She comes of age with her brother in this strange, and increasingly estranged, household split between a small village in southern Italy and New York City. Without even sign language in common - their parents have not bothered to teach them - family communications are chaotic and rife with misinterpretations, by turns hilarious and devastating. An outsider in every way, she longs for a freedom she's not even sure exists. Only books and punk rock-and a tumultuous relationship-begin to show her the way to create her own mythology, to construct her own version of the story of her life.Kinetic, formally dazzling, and spectacularly original, this book is a funny and profound portrait of an unconventional family that makes us look anew at how language shapes our understanding of ourselves.Story Locale: New York, Italy, London

International Sensation: This is Claudia's fourth novel but the first to be translated into English. It was a bestseller in Italy, and scooped up tons of prizes, and sold in auctions in over 14 languages around the world.Ferrante on Speed: Claudia Durastanti is at the forefront of a new generation of Italian writers. Her origins are in the Southern Italy of Ferrante, but her story only starts there, and ends up in a modern mosaic of language and life, nightclubs and ideologies. This is not like anything you've read before.Star Author: Claudia will be a huge asset to publication. She speaks impeccable English and is the translator into Italian for many authors of her generation like Ocean Vuong, and classics like The Great Gatsby. Glamorous and warm and unexpected, she lives in London and Rome but has a large network in the United States.