Nymph - by Sofia Montrone (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Call Me by Your Name meets Elena Ferrante in this debut coming-of-age novel about a young girl who spends summers working at her family's timeworn Italian agriturismo, the tragedy that rends her life into "before" and "after," and the unexpected consequences of her romance with an American girl.

When we meet ten-year-old Leo, life is a myth to inhabit, a series of objects to collect. She spends her summer mornings tidying the rooms of her Nonna Tina's Italian agriturismo, carefully accumulating the curious bits of detritus left by the guests--a pearl earring, a lock of hair. At night she hangs onto her father's every word as he holds court with liquor-spun tales of Odysseus and the Trojans in secret battle.

Years later, we meet her once again during a sweltering summer not unlike the many that have come before. And yet, the agriturismo is the only thing that remains the same: Nonna Tina has grown older, Leo's brother Max is intractable and mercurial, and the curiosity Leo so loved to feed as a child has turned into something more confusing. A tragedy has transformed the world into a thing she doesn't recognize or understand; an essential person is missing.

But then a new one arrives. Dolores, an American girl a few years older than Leo, comes to work in the hotel, bringing with her an openness, sharp-hewn beauty, and crystalline confidence Leo cannot turn away from. Over the course of this sun-drenched summer in the northern Italian countryside, Leo's world is tilted off its axis once again.

Rarely has a debut novel captured the exquisite pain and exhilaration of first love so potently--that time when one is trying so hard to hold on to what is elusive, to deny what cannot be faced, to say what cannot be said. Sensuous and precise, searching and knowing, Nymph introduces a young writer of extraordinary talent, and will sit on the shelf alongside sultry summer classics such as Call Me by Your Name, The Lost Daughter, and Bonjour Tristesse.

Review Quotes

"An achingly beautiful coming-of-age novel. . . . Author Sofia Montrone wields her poetic prose so well it truly elicits the pain borne of youthful desire and the desperation found when young queer people attempt their journey for self-knowledge through romance. Nymph's larger observations on vulnerability and sapphic desire also pack a hefty punch." --Observer

"In Greek mythology, nymphs were earthly deities, beautiful and dangerous. In biology, the same word describes a young grasshopper that sheds its skin to take on its adult form. Both meanings feel equally apt as the title of Sofia Montrone's debut coming-of-age novel, set over two heat-soaked Italian summers eight years apart . . . . There's something singular here, a series of small moments rendered in vivid and strange detail that builds into a pointillist portrait of a relationship doomed to end with the season. . . . It's this tender and transformative stage of life that Nymph captures with moving precision." --ABC

"Nymph is soft and sweet and hot and pungent and textured and strange and lovely. It's both a perfect summer read and a genuinely beautiful book. I'll be thinking about it for a very long time." --Literary Hub

"Nostalgic, wistful, and beautifully written. The perfect summer read." --Emily Austin, bestselling author of Everyone in this Room Will Someday be Dead

"Montrone's prose is undeniably beautiful and poetically precise; her ability to distill universal experiences in novel ways, especially regarding first love, girlhood, aging, and grief, is particularly noteworthy. A poignant debut about the bittersweet space between childhood and adulthood." --Kirkus Reviews

"Nymph is stunning, sunbaked, full of longing, desire, and wisdom. Montrone perfectly captures the Homeric, mythic power of childhood's edge, the paradox of days that feel like they last forever, while somehow always being much too short. Every sentence is a heartbreak in this remarkable debut." --Hilary Leichter, author of Temporary

"Montrone's prose is polished, economic, swift, smart, spiritual. Nymph shows that a book is not defined by its subject matter. It's a transcendent work of intelligence that is also a transcendent work of the senses." --Heidi Julavits, author of Directions to Myself

"Beautiful. . . Montrone vividly harnesses the ache of first love and the youthful yearning for self-understanding, which, for the poetic-minded Leo, is as much tied to death and fate as it is to sexual desire. This will stay with readers." --Publishers Weekly

"Montrone's atmospheric debut novel is a beautifully written coming-of-age story set in the Italian countryside. . . . This character-driven novel is perfect for anyone who wants to sink into a story of one girl's gentle reckoning of self." --Booklist

"Luscious and transporting, Nymph is an evocative and affecting portrait of a family in flux, and a queer coming of age tale deliciously suffused with memory and desire. This book will linger with you long after you turn the last page." --Grace Flahive, author of Palm Meridian

"In Nymph, Sofia Montrone travels with sure-footed grace through two lush and flourishing locales: the mountains of Northern Italy, and the interior landscape of its young protagonist. While the spaces it explores may be untamed, Montrone's lyrical prose is masterfully precise. Nymph is a dazzling debut that captures the dizzying intensity of first love." --Adam Wilson, author of Sensation Machines

"This shimmering gem of a novel invites you to re-experience that gut-punch feeling of youthful summer romance. Suffused with moody sunsets, lush summer heat, and confused yearning, studded with scenes of startling clarity and swoon-worthy sentences, Nymph is a truly impressive debut." --Anelise Chen, author of Clam Down

"This is a gorgeous book. With writing as lush as the Italian mountains, Montrone casts a gentle but enchanting spell. Nymph vividly evokes so much of what we hold precious: endless summers, the freshness of first love and the bittersweet beauty of our lost youth." --Brian Francis, author of Missed Connections

"A coming of age story that will sweep you away into the Italian countryside. . . .The writing was quite skillful for any author, but for a debut novel I was impressed with the way Montrone weaved the story into Leo's everyday life at the hotel, The Odyssey, and the strangers who come and go throughout the Italian summer." --BookTrib

"Let this be your steamy sum­mer read: think Elena Fer­rante; think Call Me By Your Name. A beau­ti­fully queer com­ing-of-age story full of teen­age angst, the novel fol­lows Leo, who helps her nonna in the fam­ily pen­sione and becomes cap­tiv­ated by Amer­ican guest Dolores." --Elle UK

"If you like your books slow-paced, atmospheric and full of yearning, add Sofia Montrone's Nymph to your TBR list, stat." --Elle Canada

About the Author

Sofia Montrone is as an adjunct assistant professor in Columbia's undergraduate writing program, and formerly served as editor-in-chief of The Columbia Review and the director of Columbia Artist/Teachers. Her short fiction and criticism have appeared in The Columbia Review, Quarto, and Adroit. She holds an MFA from Columbia University. Nymph is her first novel.