Winner of the 2023 Bagutta Prize for Best Debut, the novel has a numbered sequence of small passages, seemingly random fragments that together tell a story, a story that delimits the void of the protagonist’s loneliness as he visits the place of his brother’s disappearance. With an original form and poetic style, it has a compelling narrative that ties it all together, especially when it takes an unexpected but moving turn with the arrival of J. and her story of loneliness and triumph as a trans refugee.
After dying in mysterious circumstances on a Greek island, all that remains of F. is a tattered manuscript containing a half-written book. F.’s brother travels to the island hoping to discover what became of him, and to write an ending to both his book and his life. Things will prove more difficult than expected until he meets J., a young woman with a red bicycle and the only person who might know what happened to F. Islands are lonely creatures.
Hailed as “marvellous” by Marco Missiroli, Every Creature is an Island is both a roman à clef and a wrenching meditation on loneliness and longing, the artistic process and the strength of family bonds.