A Man of No Moon

A big, lush novel from critically beloved Jenny McPhee, set against the exotic backdrop of postwar Italy.

Dante Sabato has always wanted to kill himself. He has also always wanted to sleep with women. A poet, translator, and writer of novels, Dante has long been in the best position to do both things. But even war could not end his dark obsessions, no matter the dire circumstances-prison, resistance, the role of assassin. A few scant years after losing all the people he has loved, he is a man of no moon-no pole pulls him, no object can hold his fancy. Then, one night, into his life step two American beauties: sisters Gladys and Prudence, ex-pat actresses on the prowl. One he desires, the other he demands, and a ménage blooms that threatens Dante's ability to end his own existence.

This is Jenny McPhee at her finest. Whether she is sketching the war-bruised Italian psyche as it brushes up against the puffed-up American dream of heroism, fantastically detailing the styles and locales of the late 1940s, or creating a sexual situation with spark, smoke, and fire, she is masterful in her prose, and her storytelling mesmerizes on every page.