If the antidote to a year of solitude and trauma is art then this novel is the answer. It is superb SUNDAY TIMESA rare kind of literary celebrity VOGUEA hypnotic disappearing act OBSERVERThe new novel from the Pulitzer Prizewinning Man Booker Prizeshortlisted author a haunting portrait of a woman her decisions her conversations her solitariness in a beautiful and lonely Italian cityThe woman moves through the city her city on her own.She moves along its bright pavements she passes over its bridges through its shops and pools and bars. She slows her pace to watch a couple fighting to take in the sight of an old woman in a waiting room pauses to drink her coffee in a shaded square.Sometimes her steps take her to her grieving mother sealed off in her own solitude.