Early sunsets and the crisp autumn wind call for cozying up with a book.
If you’re interested in Italian literature, a work in translation is a great place to start. The literary canon of Italian-to-English translations spans centuries and traverses genres, from Dante to Jhumpa Lahiri.
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If you’ve already blown through the oeuvres of Italo Calvino and Elena Ferrante, or you’re just looking for something fresh, consider picking up one of these recent English translations of beloved Italian novels.
The Night Trembles
Nadia Terranova, translated by Ann Goldstein
Setting: Messina and Reggio Calabria
Themes: Resilience, trauma and loss, memory, breaking with tradition
Sicilian author Nadia Terranova's 2022 novel Trema la notte has been translated into English by Ann Goldstein, the acclaimed translator for Elena Ferrante.
A work of historical fiction, ‘The Night Trembles’ tells the stories of trauma, loss, and resilience in the wake of the 1908 earthquake that devastated Messina-Reggio Calabria.
The story is told by two narrators: 11-year-old Nicola and 20-year-old Barbara. Perhaps most innovative is the book’s metastructure, which uses Tarot cards as a guiding theme for each chapter.
There’s No Turning Back
Alba De Céspedes, translated by Ann Goldstein
Setting: Rome
Themes: Gender roles, identity, coming of age, fascist Italy
Though many of feminist writer Alba De Céspedes’ works have already been translated into English, her debut novel is just now getting its turn. 'Nessuno torna indietro' (1938) is now available in English as ‘There’s No Turning Back’, translated by Ann Goldstein.
This coming-of-age story follows eight girls living in a convent in Rome. Narration shifts between their perspectives to reveal life in the female-only boarding school.
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‘Nessuno torna indietro’ was banned by Mussolini’s fascist regime. De Céspedes’ messages were counter to the Fascist ideology under which women were expected to be ‘la sposa e madre esemplare’ (‘exemplary wife and mother’), and she was even imprisoned multiple times.
Perfection
Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes
Setting: Berlin, Lisbon, Sicily
Themes: Identity, digital culture, belonging
‘Perfection’ (2025) – originally ‘Le perfezioni' (2022) – was shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize. The short novel is about our increasingly digital lives, as told through the story of a young couple moving through Europe as digital nomads.
Like ‘There’s No Turning Back’, the novel is light on plot and heavy on descriptive imagery. It paints a picture of a life that lacks meaning beneath its Instagram-perfect facade.
The story is a modern retelling of Georges Perec’s ‘Things: A Story of the Sixties’, a 1965 novel critiquing consumerism through the undoing of a rich yet discontented couple.
The Little I Knew
Chiara Valerio, translated by Ailsa Wood
Setting: Scauri, Lazio
Themes: Murder mystery, small-town secrets, past and future
'Chi dice e chi tace' (2024), a Strega Prize finalist, was published in English as ‘The Little I Knew’ in June 2025.
A story of a mysterious death unfolds in author Chiara Valerio’s hometown of Scauri, on the sea south of Rome. When a curious local attorney investigates the life and secrets of the deceased woman, she slowly pulls back the veil on a genteel society that would prefer she leave the past alone.
The crime novel is inspired by the writings of Virginia Woolf, several of whose works Valerio has translated into Italian.
The Bitter Water of the Lake
Giulia Caminito, translated by Hope Campbell Gustafson
Setting: Anguillara Sabazia, Lazio
Themes: Class, coming-of-age, family and relationships
Winner of the 2021 Campiello Prize and a Strega Prize finalist, ‘L'acqua del lago non è mai dolce’ now has an English edition: ‘The Bitter Water of the Lake’.
The novel by Giulia Caminito tells a heartwrenching, familiar story about an ordinary Italian family struggling to make ends meet. Gaia’s family relocates to Lake Bracciano seeking a better life than they could find in Rome. Through Gaia’s eyes, we watch the unraveling of a family and her adolescent attempts to pave her own way to happiness and independence in an increasingly unstable world.
Nowhere Fast
Grazia Verasani, translated by Taylor Corse and Enrico Minardi
Setting: Emilia-Romagna
Themes: Crime, thrillers
The second installment in the PI Giorgia Cantini series, ‘Nowhere Fast’, is finally available in English after nearly ten years.
Originally published in 2006 as ‘Velocemente da nessuna parte’, the novel follows Giorgia’s deep dive into the underbelly of society in her pursuit of justice for Vanessa Liverani, a sex worker who has gone missing.
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