A âmarvelousâ Mediterranean memoir of an expatriate father raising his children in Italyâfrom the author of Italian Neighbors (The Washington Post).
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Tim Parks offers another lively firsthand account of Italian society and cultureâthis time focusing on all the little things that turn an ordinary newborn infant into a true Italian.
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When British-born Tim Parks heard a mother at the beach in Pescara shout to her son, âAlberto, donât sweat! No you canât go in the sea till eleven, itâs still too cold, go and see your cousin in row three number fifty-two,â he was inspired to write about parenting in Italyâwhich he was doing himself at the time after adopting the country as his own. In this humorous memoir, Parks offers an enchanting portrait of Italian childhood that shifts from comedy to despair in the time it takes to sing a lullaby. The result is âa wry, thoughtful, and often hilarious book . . . a parable of how our children, no matter what, are other than ourselvesâ (The New Yorker).
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âGlimpses of Italy that are fond, critical, pithy and penetrating.â âThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution