Six Days in Rome
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In this decadent, deeply evocative novel, a young artist travels to Rome to heal a broken heart, where she confronts loneliness and intimacy, rage and desire: “Sensorial as hell . . . A stunningly cool and stylish debut" (Paul Beatty, Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sellout).
Emilia arrives in Rome reeling from heartbreak and reckoning with her past. What was supposed to be a romantic trip has, with the sudden end of a relationship, become a solitary one instead. As she wanders, music, art, food, and the beauty of Rome's wide piazzas and narrow streets color Emilia's dreamy, but weighty experience of the city. She considers the many facets of her life, drifting in and out of memory, following her train of thought wherever it leads.
While climbing a hill near Trastevere, she meets John, an American expat living a seemingly idyllic life. They are soon navigating an intriguing connection, one that brings pain they both hold into the light.
As their intimacy deepens, Emilia starts to see herself anew, both as a woman and as an artist. For the first time in her life, she confronts the ways in which she's been letting her father’s success as a musician overshadow her own. Forced to reckon with both her origins and the choices she's made, Emilia finds herself on a singular journey—and transformed in ways she never expected.
Equal parts visceral and cerebral, Six Days in Rome is an ode to the Eternal City, a celebration of art and creativity, and a meditation on self-discovery.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A romantic vacation morphs into a solo journey in this enchanting novel. After almost two years with her author boyfriend, Michael, artist Emilia discovers he’s been living a double life, so she sets out on their planned couple’s vacation in Italy alone and heartbroken. As she wanders the beautiful piazzas of Rome, Emilia finds not just comfort but a renewed sense of inspiration. Author Francesca Giacco leads us on a deeply emotional journey as Emilia digs into her childhood issues regarding love and trust, captures the beauty of Italy with her sketches, and embraces the transformative power of traveling on your own. Six Days in Rome is an uplifting tribute to how much you can discover about yourself when your life is in ruins.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Giacco's sensual and deliberately paced debut, an American artist in her early 30s takes a transformative trip to Rome. After getting out of a relationship with a married man, Emilia turns the Roman vacation they had planned together into a solo trip, wandering the city and reflecting on the breakup and her memories of growing up as the daughter of a famous rock singer. Emilia begins an affair with a charming American ex-pat, whose thoughtful conversation helps her to see the toll that her father's passions and celebrity exacted on her family throughout her childhood. Giacco revels in her setting, providing rich descriptions of the streets, food, and people Emilia encounters ("Butter-yellow buildings, with their faded blue windows.... Around a nondescript corner, a gorgeous slap in the face"), but much of the narrative takes place inside Emilia's head as she forges an identity independent of her father and her ex. Indeed, the author's discursive style and the inconclusive ending will frustrate readers looking for an immersive narrative. Though slow moving, this is sumptuously written.