In Farthest Seas by Lalla Romano with Brian Robert Moore and Jhumpa Lahiri

Join us for a conversation with Brian Robert Moore to celebrate his translation of In Farthest Seas by Lalla Romano, a “lacerating, luminous” Italian author (Jhumpa Lahiri). He'll be speaking with Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, followed by a signing.

RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

Can't attend? Order your signed copy (please specify that you would like it signed in the comments box at checkout).

A breathtakingly beautiful novel about the first 4 years and last 4 months of a great love, by a “lacerating, luminous” Italian author (Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Interpreter of Maladies)

Upon the death of her husband, Innocenzo Monti, Lalla Romano sought to distil the essence of their long life together. The result was In Farthest Seas: a piercingly intimate retelling of the first 4 years and final 4 months of their relationship, built from shard-like moments of connection and revelation.

The 1st section spans the couple’s early attraction, which developed through long conversations on hikes in the mountains surrounding Cuneo, to their wedding and arrival at their first home together. A subtle note of elegy sounds through these recollections of love, and this note comes to the fore in the longer 2nd section that recounts the final 4 months of Innocenzo’s life.

With precise artistry, Romano braids together seemingly minor details—the expressiveness of Innocenzo’s hands, the beauty of his face in sleep, a fleeting instance of pallor—that come to reveal the barest truths of life and death. Unsparing yet tender, minimal yet monumental, In Farthest Seas is a startlingly moving elegy, and perhaps the greatest work by a rediscovered Italian master, who’s been compared to Natalia Ginzburg and Cesare Pavese.

Lalla Romano (1906-2001) was an Italian novelist, poet, translator and visual artist. Initially more active as a painter, from the 1940s Romano turned increasingly to writing, publishing her first poetry collection in 1941. During the Second World War she returned to her home province of Cuneo and became involved with the partisans. Her first novel, Maria, was published in 1953, and she went on to become one of Italy's most renowned writers, earning the Pavese Prize and the Strega Prize. Her novel A Silence Shared is also available from Pushkin Press.

Photo Credit: Daniel Horowitz

Brian Robert Moore has translated works by Italian authors such as Michele Mari, Lalla Romano and Goliarda Sapienza. For his translations, he has received the O. Henry Prize and two PEN Translates Awards. His translation of A Silence Shared was runner-up for the 2024 John Florio Prize and shortlisted for the 2023 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation.

Photo Credit: Laura Sciacovelli

Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London and raised in Rhode Island. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and author of two previous books. Her debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award and The New Yorker Debut of the Year. Her novel The Namesake was a New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and was selected as one of the best books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.