So People Know It's Me
Francesca Maria Benvenuto author Elizabeth Harris translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Pushkin Press
Publishing:5th Jun '25
£12.99
This title is due to be published on 5th June, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Zeno is 15 years old, in the eyes of the law still a child. But Zeno grew up long ago in the crime-riddled Forcella neighbourhood, where he started his career as a petty thief to supplement his mother's income and, every now and then, take his girlfriend Natalina out for pizza. A quick hand at pickpocketing and selling drugs, Zeno is confronted by another boy from a rival gang who has been tasked with taking out the competition. He shoots three times, the boy drops dead, and Zeno is sent to Nisida, an infamous juvenile prison-island off the Neapolitan coast. There, Zeno meets Ms Martina, a teacher of Italian at the prison school, who tells him about another famous Zeno in Italian literature and encourages him to start putting pen to paper to write his innermost thoughts. So People Know It's Me unveils Zeno's raw, unguarded glistening voice, as he harbours a growing resentment against the cruel sea separating him from living his life and dreams of a better future.
'A dark fable set in the juvenile prison of Nisida . . . Religion, the legal system, society and the State are criticised by the outcast Zeno with arguments drawn from his life . . . this novel is the merciless story of his conscience as a criminal born from need where readers will not only find horror but also - paradoxically - dignity and pride' - Napolista
'Giving voice to a fifteen-year-old boy incarcerated for murder in juvenile prison, Benvenuto crafts her writing, chiselling page after page with an unusual narrative voice, rich in ideas and surprising turns. The boys voice thus becomes the voice of a generation and an invisible social class, often cited only within the narrow space of crime news to signify the decadence of a metropolis like Naples . . . Illuminates and unfolds new spaces of an existence too often ignored and therefore always denied' - Il Manifesto
'Highly original and surprising' - La Gazzetta
'A flowing novel, which can be read in one breath through Zenos funny but at the same time crude words, and which drags the reader into the life and thoughts of someone who had to grow up too quickly' - Il Giornale Locale
ISBN: 9781805331742
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
160 pages