Trust

By Domenico Starnone

A FINANCIAL TIMES 'BEST BOOK OF THE WEEK' CHOICE

A sharp, breath-taking exploration of love and relationships.

Pietro and Teresa’s love affair is tempestuous and passionate. After yet another terrible argument, she gets an idea: they should tell each other something they’ve never told another person, something they’re too ashamed to tell anyone. In this way, Teresa thinks, they will remain intimately connected forever.

A few days after sharing their shameful secrets, they break up. Not long after, Pietro meets Nadia, falls in love, and proposes. But the shadow of the secret he confessed to Teresa haunts him, and Teresa herself periodically reappears, standing at the crossroads of every major moment in his life. Or is it he who seeks her out?

Trust asks how much we are willing to bend to show the world our best side, knowing full well that when we are at our most vulnerable we are also at our most dangerous.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Europa Editions
• Release date: Oct 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781787703339

Domenico Starnone

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 New York Times Editors Pick and Notable Book of the Year, and a Sunday Times and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, Trick (Europa, 2018), a Finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and the 2019 PEN Translation Prize, and Trust (Europa, 2021). The House on Via Gemito won Italy’s most prestigious literary prize, the Strega.

Reviews for Trust

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.The first section, from Pietro's point of view was by far the longest and I grew tired of it. The second section featured the extremely unlikeable Emma, Pietro's now adult daughter. Finally the third section, from the perspective of Pietro's former pupil and then girlfriend Teresa, corrects or contradicts elements of the first section. This revision was the most interesting part of the story for me and I wish that section had been longer.Overall this seemed to be a lot of fuss about not very much, with deliberate opacity and ambiguity, which left me occasionally wondering if I was missing the point - maybe I was...