Shortlisted for the 2018 National Book Awards

Sharp, succinct storytelling and breathtaking prose combine in this new novel by the author of the New York Times editor’s pick, Ties.

Imagine a duel between an elderly man and a mere boy. The same blood runs through their veins. One, Daniele Mallarico, is a successful illustrator whose reputation is slowly fading. The other, Mario, is his four-year-old grandson. The older combatant has lived for years in solitude, focusing obsessively on his work. The younger one has been left by his querulous parents with his grandfather for a 72-hour stay. Shut inside an apartment in Naples that is filled with the ghosts of Mallarico’s own childhood, grandfather and grandson match wits, while outside lurks Naples, a wily, violent, and passionate city whose influence is not easily shaken.

Trick is a gripping, wry, brilliantly devised drama, “an extremely playful literary composition,” as Jhumpa Lahiri describes it in her introduction, about aging, family, art, and reconciling with one’s past.

Illustrations by Dario Maglionico

Domenico Starnone
Domenico Starnone is an Italian writer, screenwriter and journalist. He was born in Naples and lives in Rome. He is the author of thirteen works of fiction, including First Execution (Europa, 2009), Via Gemito, winner of Italy's most prestigious literary prize, the Strega.

• Nov 12 2018
  “Starnone...sends us on a trip filled with trickery”
  — Vox
• Apr 19 2018
  “One of Italy’s most accomplished novelists spins a wonderful story...”
  — The Guardian
• Apr 1 2018
  “A superb, sometimes unsettling intergenerational portrait hitting on basic truths.”
  — Library Journal (Starred Review)
• Mar 30 2018
  " . . . an emotionally complex, layered story whose brevity serves to amplify profound themes . . . "
  — Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)
• Mar 13 2018
  Jhumpa Lahiri translates another Italian gem into English: Domenico Starnone’s ‘Trick’
  — The Washington Post
• Mar 11 2018
  Domenico Starnone Sketches a Ghost Story in 'Trick'
  — The Michigan Daily