Nymph
Today's book written by Sofia Montrone and published by Avid Reader Press
For ten-year-old Leo, the world is something to be harvested, piece by piece, and kept safe. Under the sun-baked roof of her Nonna Tina’s old Italian agriturismo, she moves through the mornings like a quiet ghost, straightening sheets and sweeping stone floors. Her real work, though, is in the things people leave behind. A single pearl earring forgotten on a nightstand, a stray lock of hair caught in a comb, a crumpled note in a wastebasket. These are her treasures, the physical proof of lives passing through. When darkness falls, the collection shifts from objects to words. She sits at her father’s feet, breathing in the scent of wine and tobacco, as he weaves grand, liquor-spun epics of Odysseus, ancient heroes, and secret Trojan battles. To Leo, everything can be gathered, categorized, and protected from the passage of time.
Then comes the accident, a sharp and sudden tear in the quiet fabric of her youth. In an instant, the protective shield of childhood is gone, leaving her entirely exposed to a world that suddenly feels much larger, sharper, and more dangerous. The easy magic of her early years gives way to the confusing, erratic rhythm of growing up.
Years blur into one another, leading to a particularly heavy, sultry summer that feels identical to the ones before it, yet entirely changed. The agriturismo still stands, its stone walls baking in the heat, but the people inside it are fracturing. Nonna Tina moves more slowly now, her hands trembling as she works. Leo’s brother, Max, has grown into a volatile, unpredictable young man, his moods shifting like summer storms. The innocent curiosity that drove Leo to collect trinkets as a child hasn't disappeared, but it has warped into a restless, aching hunger she doesn't know how to name.
Everything changes when Dolores arrives. Brilliant, sharp, and thoroughly American, Dolores is a sun around which Leo cannot help but orbit. Through Leo’s eyes, Dolores is larger than life, a catalyst for feelings Leo has never had to navigate. Suddenly, the urge to collect returns, but this time Leo is gathering experiences, glances, and the intoxicating promises of a first, consuming love. To make room for this new life, however, she must finally begin to discard the heavy relics of a past she outgrew long ago.
Sofia Montrone’s debut novel is a breathtaking exploration of the beautiful, clumsy architecture of girlhood. It carries the thick, atmospheric longing of a sun-drenched European summer, paired with an sharp, elegant prose that cuts straight to the bone. It is a story about the impossible task of holding onto things meant to slip through our fingers, the desperate lies we tell ourselves to avoid what hurts, and the heavy silence that settles over the things we need to say the most. Prepare to lose yourself in a world of dust, devotion, and the quiet revolution of becoming yourself.