Distant Light
ABOUT
THE BOOK
A man lives in total solitude in an abandoned mountain village. But a mystery disturbs his isolation: each night at the same hour a distant light appears on the far side of the valley. What is it? Someone in another deserted village? A forgotten street lamp? An alien being? Finally the man is driven to discover its source. There he finds a young boy who also lives alone in a house in the midst of the forest. But who really is this child? The answer at the secret heart of this novel is both uncanny and profoundly touching. Antonio Moresco’s work is a moving meditation on life and the universe we inhabit. Moresco reflects on the solitude and pain of existence, but also on what man shares with all around him, living and dead.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Richard
Dixon
Richard Dixon is an English translator of Italian literature. He translated the last works of Umberto Eco, including his novels The Prague Cemetery, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012, and Numero Zero, commended by the judges of the John Florio Prize, 2016. He has also translated works by Giacomo Leopardi, Roberto Calasso and Antonio Moresco.
Richard Dixon is an English translator of Italian literature. He translated the last works of Umberto Eco, including his novels The Prague Cemetery, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012, and Numero Zero, commended by the judges of the John Florio Prize, 2016. He has also translated works by Giacomo Leopardi, Roberto Calasso and Antonio Moresco.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
A man living completely alone in an abandoned mountain village sees a light far in the distance on the other side of the valley, and treks over to find out who or what it is. There, in a house in the middle of the forest, he finds a young boy, a fey strange creature, and gradually wins his trust. This is a literally haunting story in which the past and the present merge into the surreal, yet the natural scenery and the passing of the seasons are evoked with complete realism. A gorgeously lush translation that does justice to the lyricism of the original.