The Perfect Circle - by Claudia Petrucci (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Two women far apart in time, a mysterious unsellable mansion in Milan that connects them: two lives that start to overlap as impossible parallels are revealed in this story of passion, betrayal, and selfish desire.

In the round house on Via Saterna, its Palladian square exterior nothing but a trompe-l'oeil, the sun pierces through the central skylight. Its rays pass three floors unobstructed, before reaching the circle below at the heart of the house: four fingers of water filling a little silver basin. It is here that young Lidia dies, setting an end to her clandestine love affair with the ambitious architect. It is this house that real-estate agent Irene is asked to sell, decades later, as the climate catastrophe escalates, cloaking the divided city in a permanent orange haze. Returning to her native Milan for the sale, Irene feels the brunt of her father's judgement. He is a proud Italian and prouder architect--how could his own daughter make a living selling cultural patrimony to the highest foreign bidder? As she faces this new Milan and the old family tensions she had avoided while living in Rome, Irene throws herself into the impossible sale, getting to know Via Saterna intimately--this space that is as unsettling as it is hostile, with the slowly emerging traces of Lidia's interrupted life. In every room of the house, the burden of a mysterious, unresolved past can be felt, remnants of a selfish and manipulative love. The Perfect Circle tackles themes like time, death, and repetition with depth and originality, while carrying its philosophy lightly. Through it all, the novel is a subtly disturbing page-turner, every new page adding a new layer and twist.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Perfect Circle

"Claudia Petrucci makes climate emergency a literary motif, in a story that spirals, like the interior of the house in the novel, before closing in 'a perfect circle.'" --Lorenza Gentile, La Stampa

"Claudia Petrucci gave the plot of her book a circular pattern. It can be seen in the constant alternation between the two timelines of the novel, which unfolds like concentric circles--a story perfectly told." --La Lettura, Il Corriere della Sera

"It's impossible not to have many questions while reading Petrucci, but she's good at surprising the reader with the answers she gives. The Perfect Circle is ready to become a Luca Guadagnino movie, and this is the book you might want to take on vacation to remind you that climate change exists, but that choosing unhappiness over love can have equally devastating consequences." --Francesca Pellas, Il Foglio

"A refined revenge story ... A satisfying novel that keeps you guessing and in suspense until the very end." --Il Piccolo

"Part thriller, part dystopia--a novel as ambiguous as a treasure hunt." --Elle, Libri

Praise for The Performance

"All the world's a stage ... In this English-language debut, Claudia Petrucci provides a fresh take on an age-old issue: the blurred lines between art and life. In the novel, set in Milan, a woman working in a grocery store returns to the acting profession she once loved. She is an incandescent actor but soon suffers a complete breakdown, showing signs of life only when reading scripted scenes. What follows is a tangled Pygmalion story in which her boyfriend and her theater director conspire, each with his own motives, to shape her anew according to their own script." --The Millions Most Anticipated

"An unsettling and stunning tale ... Petrucci's captivating character-driven debut explores the boundary between reality and illusion in the theater world." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"What's left of an actor when she leaves the stage? Who is she when she takes off her mask and is no longer just a character? These are some of the questions running through Claudia Petrucci's debut novel, The Performance, and they make for a very intense and original story." --La Repubblica

"A daring, staggering debut novel." --Elle

"Lush, relentless and fast-paced, The Performance is a story that lingers in the mind long after the curtain falls." --Literary Review

"Claudia Petrucci's debut novel is a dazzling story that straddles the line between fiction and reality, between love and possession." --Esquire

"This is a manifestation of talent. The Performance is a miracle of perfection." --VERONICA RAIMO, author of The Girl at the Door

"Solid architecture, elegant prose, an uncanny story that subtly unsettles the reader. Claudia Petrucci has crafted a wonderful debut novel." --NADIA TERRANOVA, author of Farewell, Ghosts

About the Author

Claudia Petrucci studied Modern Letters in Milan before moving to Perth, Australia. Her reportages and short stories--which range from realistic to experimental to science fiction--have been published on Cadillac, minima&moralia, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, The Performance, also published by World Editions, was shortlisted for the John Fante Award and won the prestigious Premio Flaiano Giovani in Italy.

Anne Milano Appel, based in California, has translated works by a number of leading Italian authors for a variety of publishers in the US and UK. Among her recent translations are works by the award-winning Antonio Scurati, Claudio Magris and Paolo Maurensig. Her awards include the Italian Prose in Translation Award, the John Florio Prize for Italian Translation, and the Northern California Book Award for Translation.