The Sense of an Elephant

A prize-winning story of fathers and sons, of love and betrayal, and of a powerful secret from the past

Pietro arrives in Milan with an old bicycle and a battered suitcase full of tokens of the past. He takes up a post as concierge in a small apartment building, where it soon becomes apparent he has a deep-seated reason to be there. Living in the palazzo is Luca, a doctor, whose wife Viola carries a secret that could destroy their marriage; the bereaved lawyer Poppi, kind and desperately lonely; and elderly Luciana and her damaged son, both looking for impossible love. Right from the start Pietro has a special interest in Luca and his family, and soon he's using the concierge spare keys to let himself into his apartment while the family is out. Pietro's story is told in snatches and flashbacks, each prompted by one of the objects and notes he keeps in his suitcase, and gradually we find out what has brought him to be guardian of these lost souls, so late in his life . . .

For readers of THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG and THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING, this is an atmospheric and unforgettable novel about the ties that bind.