The book
WINNER OF THE 2024 STREGA PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2024 YOUTH STREGA PRIZE
Acclaimed Italian author Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s best-selling novel to date, The Brittle Age is a powerful mother and daughter story and a profound exploration of human fragility and the haunting shadows of the past
In the 1990s, deep in the Maiella mountains of Central Italy, a brutal crime shatters the peace of the local community. Two young women are murdered, a third left for dead. Lucia is twenty years old back, and the only survivor is her best friend.
Now, Lucia is a physiotherapist, separating from her husband, her daughter Amanda studying in Milan. When the pandemic forces Amanda to return to the family’s home near Pescara, Lucia’s memories are reawakened, and with them the impact of past trauma.
Set against the backdrop of the rugged Apennine mountains, this gripping psychological family drama weaves Lucia and Amanda’s personal struggles with the mystery of the tragedy that marked their familial land decades earlier.
Inspired by true events, The Brittle Age is a tale of individual resilience, and a commentary on the indelible impact of historical events on personal lives and the broader community.
The author
Donatella Di Pietrantonio
Donatella Di Pietrantonio is the winner, with The Brittle Age, of the 2024 Strega Prize for Fiction, Italy’s most prestigious literary award. Her short fiction has been published by Granta Italy. Her novel A Girl Returned (Europa, 2019) won the Campiello Prize, and A Sister’s Story (Europa, 2022) was a finalist for the 2021 Strega Prize and a New Yorker Best Book of 2022. She lives in Penne, Abruzzo.
Press
- Jun 16 2025
“A true-crime classic.”
— Wall Street Journal - Jun 7 2025
“Slim, unsettling.”
— The Spectator - May 21 2025
“Dark and disturbing but fascinating.”
— Reading the West - May 1 2025
“Haunting.”
— Booklist - Apr 7 2025
★ “Gut-wrenching.”
— Publishers Weekly