La luce perfetta del giorno
THE PERFECT LIGHT OF DAY

“The day, the night and then the day again, the perfect light of day: these are the things that really matter.”
A novel in three parts, it tells the interconnected stories of three women and their families, taking place from the early 1970s to the present day. At the centre of the narrative is Matilde – a solid woman whose strong personality threatens to spill over the edges of her suburban existence just as her exhuberant curves are barely contained by the bright dresses she makes herself. And her friends: Anita, devoted mother of a uniquely sensitive child and Clara, whose serene outlook is rooted in her strong faith. These bonds between the three women and their families grow strong whilst remaining changeable, as they experience their own personal tragedies. Anita’s child will die in a tragic accident, Clara’s eldest daughter will mysteriously disappear, Mathilde will have to deal with betrayal and the strain on her marriage.
Cover: Studio Jellici
A story of rare humanity and power, the explosive surfacing of being through tragedy, loss, loves lived or just brushed against, friends as refuge, irony as shelter from illness, in a necessary attempt to make peace with oneself and the ghosts that haunt us.
Elena Varvello is really good – her virtuosity not just technical… but born of her ability to tell a story on multiple, mysterious levels. Her simplicity is deceptive. The writing demands total attention as the narrative moves back and forth, accumulating important detail at every shift…. A most beautiful novel,looking at that tangled forest which is life.
Elena Varvello has written a very rich novel, full of silence and song rendered in existential brushstrokes.