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Divided into three parts, each one dedicated to a woman in our protagonist’s life, The House on Moon Lake (Delphinium) by Francesca Duranti tells the story of a complicated man named Fabrizio, his lifelong friend Mario, and the object of both their affections: a woman named Fulvia. All three live a symbiotic life in present-day Milan.

It’s an elaborate relationship. Their roles are fluid. Mario is both childhood friend and publisher of Fabrizio’s translations, Fulvia is Fabrizio’s lover and Mario’s administrative assistant, and Fabrizio is more obsessed with his aspirations and disappointments than he is grateful for his own accomplishments or the two people who love him.

The narrative is rooted in Fabrizio’s emotional equivocating as he undertakes a project that he thinks will earn him the recognition he feels he rightly deserves.

He aspires to be a celebrated Germanist. He is respected, but there are other men whose reputations clearly outstrip his. That fact eats at him, dragging him down into a morass of self-pity and bitterness. In a half-hearted effort to cheer himself up, Fabrizio visits a bookstall at the edge of a nearby park and loses himself in the dusty pages of used books and collections of essays.  

In an article printed in 1913, he finds reference to Fritz Oberhofer, an author he knows nothing about, who wrote a book that had only 100 copies privately printed. The writer of the article praised the book highly as an original, successful invention that is both surprising and convincing. “I … am perfectly confident,” the writer continues,” that it would take the public by storm …” but the writer of this article could not convince anyone to publish a translation.

“A complete unknown,” Fabrizio concludes, beside himself with excitement and sure that he can persuade Mario to publish a translation of the book, the title of which is, of course, The House on Moon Lake, a star-crossed love story set in the countryside outside of Vienna.

He just has to find it, translate it, present it to Mario for publication, and his place in the sun will be secured. But before he even leaves to search for a copy of the book, Fabrizio makes the first of several dubious decisions. 

Duranti invites her readers to experience Vienna’s cafes, gardens and architecture along with Fabrizio as he travels on his seemingly impossible quest. There’s also the labyrinth of Fabrizio’s mind. He imagines himself to be Fritz Oberhofer, strolling the streets of Vienna; he dreams about Oberhofer’s lovers and ghosts and thinks fondly of Fulvia, waiting for him back in Milan.

It’s not just a search for a book that Duranti has brought her readers; the search is only the beginning. Fabrizio has so much further to go. Circumstance, hesitation, faith and surprise take The House on Moon Lake to a completely unexpected and haunting conclusion.

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About Francesca Duranti:

Francesca Duranti is the author of eight critically acclaimed novels and the winner of several of Italy’s most prestigious literary awards. She lives in New York City and Lucca, Italy. Her bestselling novel, The House on Moon Lake, is now available in paperback from Delphinium Books.

Genre: Fiction
Sherri Daley

Sherri Daley has been writing freelance for national and regional publications for many years, including MORE magazine, Car and Driver, and the New York Times. She is the author of a book about commodities traders and a ghostwriter for business motivational texts. As a freelancer, she has established herself as someone who will write about anything – from cancer treatments to the lives of Broadway stagehands to that new car smell, blueberry jam, and Joshua Bell’s violin. Her curiosity drives her to read about anything, too, and she’s eager to share what she likes with others. She says life’s too short to read a bad book. When she’s not reading, she’s tending her gardens in Connecticut where she lives with her cat and a cage of zebra finches, although she’d rather be living in Iceland. Visit her blog at sherridaley.com for more!

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