Quiet chaos

Sandro Veronesi

"On the shores of the Mediterranean, exhausted from an afternoon of surfing, Pietro Paladini is shaken out of his stupor by a distant noise. 'Over there!' he cries to his brother, Carlo, sunning beside him. 'Over there!' So begins the adventure that will tear a hole in Pietro's life. For while he and his brother struggle to save two drowning swimmers, a tragedy is unfolding down the road at his summer cottage. Instead of coming home to a hero's welcome, Pietro is greeted by the flashing lights of an ambulance, the wide-eyed stare of his young daughter, Claudia, and the terrible news that his fiancée, Lara, is dead. Life must go on. Or does it? Pietro, a true iconoclast, has to find his own way. When he drops Claudia off for the first day of school, he decides to wait for her all day, and then every day. To protect her. To protect himself. To wait for the heavy fist of grief to strike....