The Night Trembles

Two stories converge in the aftermath of the devastating 1908 earthquake in Sicily and Calabria: a young woman sees a chance to avoid her impending arranged marriage and a boy manages to escape from the influence of an abusive mother on the verge of madness.

This new award-winning novel is from Nadia Terranova, author of Farewell Ghosts, a finalist for the 2019 Premio Strega, and is translated by Ann Goldstein, who also was the translator of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet.

"There is something stronger than pain, and that is habit." Eleven-year-old Nicola knows this well. Each night he is tied up in the cellar by his mother, the wife of Calabria's biggest bergamot producer. There he waits for the sun to rise, and with it a sliver of freedom. On the other side of the sea, Barbara has just arrived in Messina and plans to escape her father, who pulls her towards marriage with a man she does not love. Liberty will be granted to both, but it will come at a very high price.

On December 28th, 1908, the earth shakes. Europe's most devastating earthquake razes the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria and, along with them, everything Nicola and Barbara have known. From the ruins, each must piece back together a life and start anew. Written in Nadia Terranova's distinctively lyric style, The Night Trembles is a melancholic ode to human resilience and the promise of the unknown.

Author: Nadia Terranova
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 04/01/2025
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.70w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781644214091


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 03/01/2025 pg. 98
Booklist 04/01/2025 pg. 47

About the Author
NADIA TERRANOVA (Messina, 1978) is the author of Gli anni al contrario (Einaudi, 2015), Casca il mondo (Mondadori, 2016) and Bruno, il bambino che imparò a volare (Orecchio Acerbo, 2012). Her first novel translated into English, Farewell Ghosts (Seven Stories, 2020) was awarded the Premio Alassio Centolibri and was a finalist for the Premio Strega.

Translator ANN GOLDSTEIN is a former editor at The New Yorker. She has translated works by, among others, Primo Levi, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Elena Ferrante, Italo Calvino, and Alessandro Baricco, and is the editor of the Complete Works of Primo Levi in English. She has been the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and awards from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.