Two Novellas: Valentino & Sagittarius

First edition in English. 8vo. 134 pp. Black cloth boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Jacket photograph by John P. Raw. Translated from the Italian by Avril Bardoni (winner of the 1986 John Florio Award for her translation of Leonardo Sciascia's The Wine-Dark Sea). Originally published in 1951 and 1957, respectively, by G. Einaudi Editore, Torino, Italy, and subsequently in Cinque romanzi brevi (1964).

Two spare, haunting novellas of love, hope, and delusion, amongst the best of the author's early works. "Her simplicity is an achievement, hard-won and remarkable, and the more welcome in a literary world where the cloak of omniscience is all too readily donned." –William Weaver, The New York Times