Break

As in his widely praised Fists, Pietro Grossi's The Break brings out the epic human drama in a tale of everyday life in his characteristically lucid, stripped-down prose.

Dino is a placid, unambitious man. Living in a small provincial town, he and his wife spend their time planning journeys to faraway places - journeys they never take. Dino's only passion is billiards, and he spends his evenings in the local billiards hall honing his technique. One day, however, Dino's quiet life is interrupted: his wife is pregnant. This the first in a series of events that shake him from his slumber and force him to test himself for the first time.

Translated from the Italian by award-winning translator Howard Curtis, Pietro Grossi's The Break echoes the styles of Hemingway, Salinger and is published by Pushkin Press

'Small and perfectly formed ... reaching its end leaves the reader desirous to start all over again'
— Amanda Hopkinson, Independent

'Howard Curtis's translation moves with the swiftness of Dino's cueball'
— Guardian

Pietro Grossi, writer and translator, was born in 1978 in Florence and currently lives and works in Tuscany. His novel Fists is also available from Pushkin Press.