Morning Sea
Authors: Margaret Mazzantini
Praise for
Twice Born
‘This stunning novel about the nature of grief, love and motherhood blew me away with the quality and depth of her haunting story.’
The Bookseller
‘Mazzantini’s haunting novel, beautifully written and skillfully crafted, proves that despite the hatred exposed by war, love persists, and even flourishes.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Awash with vivid memories and powerful emotion . . . A stunning book.’
Irish News
‘Beautiful but heartbreaking.’
BookPage
‘Epic and captivating . . . Truly unforgettable.’
Easy Living
‘
Twice Born
by Margaret Mazzantini is a timeless yet compelling modern tale of love and war . . .
as gritty, difficult, compelling, and real as the evening news.’ DolceDolce
‘Mazzantini’s depictions of love, maternal and romantic, are powerfully raw.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Beautifully rendered,
Twice Born
is a testament to love’s power over hate and the promise of new beginnings.’ The Daily Beast
‘Artfully told . . . enraptures its audience with larger-than-life characters travelling along life’s twisted journey.’ Meg Talks Books
‘Beautiful, lyrical, painful . . . It also illuminates, for at its heart is the power of love, which does not conquer all, but is the only means for the soul to survive and heal. Highly recommended.’ The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog
‘A stunning story of love and war, of violence and of the secrets within a family.’ Le Monde des Livres
‘Margaret Mazzantini expertly weaves together jealousy, horror, money, cynicism, compassion, madness, and hope.’
Le Journal du Dimanche
‘Splendid and engaging . . . page after page of images, rhythm, suspense, suffering, and synchrony. Pure energy.’
La Nazione
‘Nothing short of astonishing . . . Margaret Mazzantini sows, with a steady hand, the seed of hope deep within the darkest and most desperate acts of humankind.’
La Stampa
Praise for
Don’t Move
‘Beautiful . . . The splintered, humanizing observations that constantly animate [
Don’t Move
] are exhilarating.’
New York Times Book Review
‘Gripping . . . unfolds with the whispered, urgent secrecy of a confessional. The writing is terse, taut, and very graphic – like a succession of crystal-clear stills from a dramatic film.’
Daily Telegraph
‘Enthralling, compelling, and gripping.’
Mail on Sunday
‘Grips you to the end.’
Daily Mail
‘A psychological study of passion, degradation, and guilt . . . a powerful depiction of the struggle in human nature between the ephemeral quest for love and the quest for self-knowledge.’
Financial Times
‘A powerful, visceral, and unforgettable story.’
Panorama
‘Margaret Mazzantini has taken Italy by storm with [
Don’t Move
] . . . Startling stuff.’
Independent
‘Irresistible. Reading
Don’t Move
is like opening the hospital-room door to find a tiger pacing in the corridor: there’s no looking away, no turning back; nothing is more important than what happens next.’ Valerie Martin, author of
Property
About the Author
Margaret Mazzantini was born in Dublin and lives in Rome with her husband and four children. She made her literary début in 1994 with
Il catino di zinco
(
The Zinc Basin
), followed by
Manola
(1999), and in 2001 she published
Non ti muovere
(
Don’t Move
), which won multiple awards, including the Premio Strega, Premio Grinzane Cavour, Premio Città di Bari, and European Zepter Prize, and in 2004 was made into an acclaimed film directed by Sergio Castellitto and starring Penélope Cruz. After the theatrical monologue
Zorro
(2002), Mazzantini published the novel
Venuto al mondo
(
Twice Born
, 2008, published by Oneworld Publications in 2011), which won the prestigious Premio Campiello in 2009, and was made into a film directed by Sergio Castellitto, starring Penélope Cruz and Emile Hirsch (2012). This was followed by
Nessuno si salva da solo
(
No One Survives Alone
, 2011) and
Mare al mattino
(
Morning Sea
, 2011), the latter winning the Premio Cesare Pavese and Premio Matteotti awards. Her most recent novel is
Splendore
(
Splendour
, 2013). Margaret Mazzantini’s books are international bestsellers, and have been translated into more than thirty languages.
Also available in English
from Margaret Mazzantini
Don’t Move
Twice Born
A Oneworld book
First published in North America, Great Britain, and Australia by
Oneworld Publications, 2015
Originally published in Italian as
Mare al mattino
by Einaudi, 2011
This ebook edition published by Oneworld Publications, 2015
Copyright © Margaret Mazzantini, 2011, 2015
Translation copyright © Ann Gagliardi, 2015
The moral right of Margaret Mazzantini to be identified as the
Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78074-633-3
eBook ISBN 978-1-78074-634-0
This book has been selected to receive financial assistance from English PEN’s
“PEN Translates!” programme, supported by Arts Council England. English
PEN exists to promote literature and our understanding of it, to uphold writers’
freedoms around the world, to campaign against the persecution and
imprisonment of writers for stating their views, and to promote the friendly
co-operation of writers and the free exchange of ideas. www.englishpen.org
Oneworld Publications
10 Bloomsbury Street
London WC1B 3SR
England
For you with Dhaki on the
coche pequeño
Contents
Farid has never seen the sea, never gone in.
He’s imagined it many times. Dotted with stars like a pasha’s cloak, blue like the blue wall of the dead city.
He’s looked for fossilized seashells buried millions of years ago when the sea extended into the desert. He’s chased after fish lizards that swim beneath the sand. He’s seen the salty lake and the bitter lake and silvery camels advancing like shabby pirate ships. He lives in an oasis on the edge of the Sahara.
His ancestors belonged to a tribe of Bedouin nomads. They set up their tents in wadis, riverbeds covered with vegetation. The goats grazed; the wives cooked on fiery stones. They never left the desert. They didn’t entirely trust the coastal people, merchants, and pirates. The desert was their home – their open, limitless sea of sand, mottled by the dunes like a jaguar’s coat. They possessed nothing, only footprints, which the sand covered over. The sun moved the shadows. They were accustomed to withstanding thirst, drying out like dates without dying. A camel opened the way for them with its long, crooked shadow. They disappeared in the dunes.