Description
Book Synopsis
‘Sad, funny, wise and unblinkingly honest, this is truly wonderful.’ Daily Mail
‘I like the smell of pines and the aroma of freshly washed laundry. I like the rattle of hail on windowpanes and the texture of volcanic rock. I like the light in the sky when the sun has gone down.’
Cesare is an unlikely hero. As he says himself, ‘I am seventy-seven years old, and for seventy-two years and one hundred and eleven days I threw my life down the toilet...’ Is it too late for him to rediscover his passion for love and life?
Already an international bestseller, The Temptation to Be Happy is a coming-of-age story like no other.
'Immensely charming... Uplifting and very much on the side of life.' Mail on Sunday
Trade Review‘Sad, funny, wise and unblinkingly honest, this is truly wonderful.’
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Daily Mail *
‘Uh-oh, here comes another one of those colourful curmudgeons who drop pearls of senior wisdom on their way to a new lease on life. Cesare certainly fits the stereotype, but he’s funny, interesting and grumpy enough to stay on the winning side of the formula.’
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New York Times Book Review *
‘Immensely charming... Uplifting and very much on the side of life.’
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Mail on Sunday *
‘Marone’s characters, irreverent and absurd, embark on adventures they had ceased to allow themselves to imagine in this darkly comedic take on ageing.’
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World Literature Today *
‘An impressive literary feat…a charming tale of opportunities taken and missed.’
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Reading Magazine *
‘Lorenzo Marone is the new voice that literature needs.’
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Corriere della Sera *
‘Unforgettable...comical and cynical while remaining tender and dramatic.’
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Corriere della Sera *
‘The Temptation to be Happy is that very rare thing - a book that can make you both laugh and cry... Marone's undoubted skill [is] demonstrated in some beautiful lyrical passages.'
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TripFiction *
‘Poignant...[with] moments of touching eccentricity.’
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bookoxygen *
‘A wonderful novel about ageing – ironic and light-footed.’
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Italien Magazin *
‘Packed with dark humour, the writer's embodiment of a near-octogenarian is an impressive feat.’
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Northern Echo *
‘A charming tale.’
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Daily Telegraph *
‘A toast to real happiness!’
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La Stampa *
‘A book that touches the heart...wonderfully honest, ingenious, quick and tragic.’
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Siegener Zeitung *
‘This novel owes its success largely to Lorenzo Marone’s wonderful character Cesare Annunziata, and to the funny and paradoxical fact that this is an excellent coming-of-age novel whose protagonist is over seventy years old.’
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Il Mattino *
‘Comic, ironic, sarcastic descriptions that will make you smile but will also make you take a deep look at life in old age.’
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Wochenspiegel *
