on Words Without Borders a translated excerpt of Farfariel: The Book of Micù by Pietro Albì

Words Without Borders published a translated excerpt of Farfariel: The Book of Micù by Pietro Albì. Foreign rights are available at our agency

Canzano, 1938: Micù is a ten-year-old boy, born in a rural family from Abruzzo and crippled by polio. Every morning he wakes up breathless after having the most extravagant nightmares. Isn’t it enough what he has to endure when he is awake?

Different from the other children, Micù tries to grow up and find his place in a harsh environment which barely cares about his condition: every day, on top of the suffering and his poor health, he has to face his classmates’ teasing, the locals’ silly superstitions and his father’s mistrust of school and of his wish to keep studying.

Micù, no matter what, doesn’t lose his heart and tries to help his beloved Tatà, his quiet grandfather with an ambiguous past as a migrant in Lamerica, through his mysterious pursuit made up of shovels, excavations and buried memories.

But the apparition of Farfariel, a strange devil with unclear intentions – even capable of stepping into the writing of the book telling his own story! – will change the game, causing Micù to face his limits and fears.

Pietro Albì

is the pseudonym of the screenwriter Pietro Albino Di Pasquale. He writes for theater and television and has worked on screenplays for short films, documentaries, and features including L’uomo FiammiferoInto ParadisoMozzarella StoriesLimenBuoni a Nulla, and San Valentino Stories. Farfariel: Il libro di Micù is his first novel.