August Book of the Month - Emma recommends... | The Little I Knew, Chiara Valerio, translated by Ailsa Wood

Emma recommends... In a small, coastal, Italian town, a woman dies in her bath. A friend, also the town lawyer, doesn't believe it was an accident. And so begins a line of enquiry into how Vittoria died that quickly reveals how little Lea knew of how her friend lived. The Little I Knew is a wonderful celebration and critique of small towns and close communities, both fabulously Italian and beautifully universal in the questions it asks about just how well we can really know each other and - ultimately - ourselves.

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In Scauri, an end of the line seaside town forty miles or so from Rome, Vittoria dies unexpectedly in her bath. Whilst the townsfolk meet the event with sad but respectful southern Italian silence, Lea, the town lawyer, wants to investigate. Who was Vittoria, what were her secrets, why had she mysteriously arrived in Scauri thirty years earlier? And was her relationship with Lea all that it seemed?

In this unforgettable portrait of a small town and the women who live there, reverberations from the past catch up with present. Through the silences, Vittoria’s story is revealed and everything - passions, emotions, and relationships - changes forever. Novelist, editor, critic, cultural commentator and mathematician Chiara Valerio is a sensation in Italy where The Little I Knew is a huge bestseller.