WINNER OF THE ALTA 2024 ITALIAN PROSE IN TRANSLATION AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE
OXFORD-WEIDENFELD PRIZE 2024 'I loved it and it had been a long time since I had read
anything that gave me such life and joy' Natalia Ginzburg The first unabridged English
translation of the electrifying novel of secrets and delusions from one of the greatest
Italian writers of the twentieth century. Elisa - orphaned as a child raised by a 'fallen
woman' fed by fairy tales - has lived in an outlandish imaginary world for years. When her
guardian dies she feels compelled to confront her family's tortured and dramatic past weaving
the tale of her mother and grandmother through a history of intrigue treachery deception and
desire. But as her saga of three generations of Sicilian women proceeds it becomes something
else entirely taking in a whole legacy of oppression and injustice. By turns flamboyant and
intense raging and funny Lies and Sorcery is a celebration of the female imagination and the
power of storytelling itself. First published in 1948 Elsa Morante's debut novel won the
Viareggio Prize and earned her the lasting admiration of generations of writers from Italo
Calvino and Natalia Ginzburg to Elena Ferrante. Translated by Jenny McPhee
