Marta Barone's craftsmanship glistens beneath the surface of 'Sunken City'

'It's really the case that the dead come back at some point to look for you, and then you have to have a table with them.'

Italian writer Marta Barone (34), who records these words in her novel Sunken city, experiences this first-hand when she loses her father Leonardo, now 10 years ago.

Barone grew up with her mother and throughout her life had a difficult relationship with her inscrutable father, whom she knew as chaotic, loud and immature. Apart from a love of mythology, they shared nothing in common. 'Depending on the circumstances, I saw him slip behind a different mask each time,' Marta writes, irritating her immensely even as a child. So when Leonardo dies, it is no great tragedy, because she does not cherish that much interest or warmth for him.

But that changes when Marta discovers that he was a member of a communist movement and served time in prison for alleged involvement in an armed organisation. As she slowly unravels her father's past and begins to understand who he was and why, a complex and dark chapter in Italian history also unfolds: the era of the 1970s when workers' emancipation struggles and other good intentions ended in blood, violence and extremism.

Screw

The book begins stumblingly. As a reader, you experience the same lack of feeling and interest that the author has; the relationship with the life story of 'Il Barone' remains as distant and bloodless as that of the daughter with her father. But from the second part onwards, the atmosphere becomes warmer, the colours become deeper, the characters more vivid, the story gains momentum and tension. The true facts of this tragic life story begin to form a compelling novel, and Leonardo becomes an increasingly intriguing character.

An old legend about a Russian city that sank into a lake when it was attacked and still shines in the depths serves as a wonderful metaphor for Leonardo Barone. His daughter's quest allows herself and the reader to "discern its white-gold outlines beneath the surface of the lake, and hear the dull chime of church bells". Similarly, the craftsmanship with which Barone has composed her novel shimmers beneath the surface of the story.

Good to know

Marta Barone, Sunken city
Translated by Manon Smits, 316 p., Ambo Anthos, €22.99