A searing story of identity, ambition, and the cost of leaving home, from one of Italy's most vital contemporary voicesGabriele left Rome to reinvent himself.
Author(s): Daniele Mencarelli
192 Pages
Fiction, Friendship
Description
Book Synopsis
A searing story of identity, ambition, and the cost of leaving home, from one of Italy's most vital contemporary voices
Gabriele left Rome to reinvent himself. He traded the working-class streets of his childhood for the sleek design studios of Milan, where he's built a successful career and a new life--one carefully distanced from the neighborhood he came from.
But when he returns home for a family celebration, Gabriele is pulled back into a world that feels both comforting and claustrophobic: the slow rhythms of Rome, his loving but provincial family, and childhood friends whose lives have remained circumscribed by the same few blocks. Torn between nostalgia and shame, Gabriele is forced to reckon with everything he tried to leave behind.
And when a rumor about the true source of his success begins to circulate, the careful identity he's constructed in Milan begins to crumble. In the space between who he was and who he's become, Gabriele must confront the of where he truly belongs.
Written with grace, empathy, and psychological precision, The Burning Origin is a powerful story about social mobility, self-invention, and the double-edged freedom of those who leave.
Review Quotes
Praise for The House of Gazes
"When a poet who has a strong story to tell decides to write a novel, the result is a masterpiece."--Vanity Fair
"The most important book I have read this year. It's an autobiographical story, I believe, and it's about a rebirth."--La Stampa
"Essential and unforgettable."--la Repubblica
"Like Pasolini's, Mencarelli's is drawn towards the lost, the damned, those at the margins of society. Yet The House of Gazes, his first novel, is not simply a descent into human hell. It is a story of resurrection."--Il Giornale
"Miraculous. "--Il Messaggero
Praise for Everything Calls for Salvation
"An evocative work of autofiction...With its bracing view of the hero's interior world, this meditative novel viscerally excoriates the failings of his treatment."--Publishers Weekly
"Moving and engaging. This novel will stay with you."--Goffredo Fofi, Internazionale
"Mencarelli writes with the grace and power of a poet. His words illuminate truth like a flash of lightning."--Il Sole 24 Ore
"Mencarelli's writing is extraordinary for its intensity and empathy... His prose has the emotional force of poetry."--Radio Tre
Dimensions (Overall): 8.1 Inches (H) x 5.2 Inches (W) x .9 Inches (D)
Weight: .4 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 192
Genre: Fiction
Sub-Genre: Friendship
Publisher: Europa Editions
Format: Paperback
Author: Daniele Mencarelli
Language: English
Street Date: November 11, 2025
TCIN: 1002144594
UPC: 9798889661429
Item Number (DPCI): 247-25-0717
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
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Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 0.9 inches length x 5.2 inches width x 8.1 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 0.4 pounds
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