The House on Via Gemito

Winner of the Strega Prize

Longlisted for The International Booker Prize 2024

“Starnone uses languages the way a great painter works with colour, conjuring the illusion of three dimensions from a blank flat surface.” -Jhumpa Lahiri

“One of Italy's most accomplished novelists.” -The Guardian

“Masterly.” -Times Literary Supplement

The modest apartment on Via Gemito smells of paint and white spirit. The furniture is pushed up against the wall to create a make-shift studio, and drying canvases must be moved off the beds each night.

Federi, a railway clerk, is convinced that, if he didn't have a family to feed, he'd be a world-famous painter. Talented, ambitious, and frustrated, his life is marked by bitter disappointment. His long-suffering wife and their four sons bear the brunt.

Years later, his first-born son will tell the story of a man he spent his whole life trying not to resemble.

Narrated against the background of a Naples still marked by WWII and first published in Italy over 20 years ago, The House on Via Gemito is a masterpiece of contemporary Italian literature.

About the Author

Domenico Starnone was born in Naples and lives in Rome. He is the author of thirteen works of fiction, including First Execution (Europa, 2009), Ties (Europa, 2017) a Sunday Times Best Book of the Year, Trick (Europa, 2018), a Finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and the 2019 PEN Translation Prize, Trust (Europa, 2021), and The House on Via Gemito (Europa, 2023), winner of Italy's most prestigious literary prize, the Strega. It was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024.