Italian Education

Tim Parks' first bestseller, Italian Neighbors, chronicled his initiation into Italian society and cultural life. Reviewers everywhere hailed it as a bravissimo performance. Now he turns to his children -- born and bred in Italy -- and their milieu in a small village near Verona.

With the splendid eye for detail, character, and intrigue that has brought him acclaim as a novelist, he creates a fascinating portrait of Italian family life, at school, at home, in church, and in the countryside. This panoramic journey winds up with a deliciously seductive evocation of an Italian beach holiday that epitomizes everything that is quintessentially Italian. Here is an insider's Italy, re-created by "one of the most gifted writers of his generation" (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post)

Tim Parks is the author of seven novels: Loving Roger, Home Thoughts, Tongues of Flame, Family Planning, Goodness, Juggling the Stars, and Shear. He has won international acclaim for his work, including the Somerset Maugham, John Llewellyn Rhys, and Betty Trask awards. Born in Manchester, England, he studied English literature at Cambridge University and Harvard. In addition to his own award-winning books, Parks has translated the works of Moravia, Calvino, and Calasso. He lives just outside Verona, Italy, where he teaches English at the University Of Verona.