The Art of Killing Well
Page 15
In a word, the world was changing. It was becoming a more open place, a place where it was possible to communicate more easily, and in which certain forms of discrimination were starting to show their senselessness thanks to the inspired madness of a number of pioneers.
The noble protagonist of this novel has the title of baron, and that is no coincidence either; without enlarging too much on this, nowadays this title is used in a very specific context, to refer to a certain kind of person and their use of public institutions.
The most alert and erudite readers will have recognised the book that Cecilia reads aloud to her grandmother: The Emperor’s Tomb by Joseph Roth. That was no random choice either, even though it involves taking some liberties with historical reality.
Finally, the pie that goes through the whole book is a gypsy recipe: and as you will by now have guessed, that is no coincidence either.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book would never have seen the light of day without the passion, care and sincerity of Antonio Sellerio, who approved of the plot when I told it to him, and suggested I set it in Tuscany, not in England as I had originally planned.
In the same way, this book would never have occurred to me if as a young university student I had not wasted time when I should have been studying reading the exhilarating revival of Il Libro Cuore (forse) by Federico Maria Sardelli and the learned but still hilarious Novissimo Borzacchini Universale by Ettore Borzacchini. I am indebted to both these authors, and in the book there are two explicit tributes to their brilliant humour.
I thank Piergiorgio, Pierino, Ciccio, Valeria for giving me, when I went to live on my own, a copy of Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, and Pino and Leonora Rossi for helping me to appreciate the culinary and literary contents of the book. I thank Maurizio Vento for lending me the autobiography of Pellegrino Artusi: one day I’ll give it back, but not yet.
I thank Laura Caponi, Cinzia Chiappe, Christian Pomelli, Mimmo Tripoli and my wife’s mother Liana for preventing me from making too many blunders.
I thank my friends, who have read, examined, criticised and exhorted: Virgilio, Serena, Letizia, Rino, my fellow citizens of Olmo Marmorito (with an honourable mention to Sara, the only one to send me notes on time) and all those I have forgotten.
Last but not least, that I was able to start writing again after a year’s silence is thanks to the patience of Liana, Gianna, Salvina, Giovanna, Gino and Tina, who have nursed and fed little Leonardo; and thanks to Samantha, who apart from pampering the little man of the house has also taken care of the big one and his manuscript. Without her, neither would have got anywhere.
MARCO MALVALDI
MARCO MALVALDI was born in Pisa in 1974, and is both a crime novelist and a chemist. His first novels made up the Bar Lume series set on the Tuscan coast, and he has since published Argento Vivo, which was a number one bestseller in Italy in 2013. For The Art of Killing Well he was awarded both the Isola d’Elba Award and the Castiglioncello Prize.
HOWARD CURTIS is a translator from Italian, French and Spanish, most recently of novels by Jean-Claude Izzo, Gianrico Carofiglio and Luis Sepúlveda. He has won several awards, and his translations have twice been nominated for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.