So People Know It's Me

Francesca Maria Benvenuto author Elizabeth Harris translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Pushkin Press

Published:5th Jun '25

Should be back in stock very soon

So People Know It's Me cover

A fierce, unforgettable novel set in the juvenile prison island of Nisida - for readers of Elena Ferrante and The End of Eddy. Zeno is fifteen years old, a minor by law, but he grew up long ago in the dusty heat of Naples. Winding down cobbled streets on his motorbike, he delivers baggies and picks pockets, doing whatever it takes to put food on the table and steal a few precious moments of freedom with his girlfriend, Natalina, in the city's starlit piazzas. That's until a rival gang member pulls up beside him with a gun, and Zeno ends up on the brutal prison island of Nisida. Separated from all he loves by the cruel, glittering sea, with a cell window looking out at distant beaches, Zeno promises to write down the story of his life in exchange for a visit home. But the sea has eyes everywhere, and someone on the outside wants revenge. Boldly original and deeply humane, So People Know It's Me unleashes Zeno's luminous, unguarded and defiant voice - dreaming of a fragile future beyond Nisida's walls. 'Highly original and surprising' La Gazzetta di San Severo 'A dark tale set in the juvenile prison of Nisida' Il Napolista 'Illuminates and unfolds new spaces for an existence too often ignored' Il Manifesto 'The inimitable soul of Naples is at the very heart of this astonishing book' Corse Matin

"Love Ferrante? Read this intelligent Neapolitan writer... Benvenuto’s superb debut, So People Know It’s Me, follows one young man’s self-realisation in a foreboding juvenile prison"
—Telegraph

"An extraordinary tale of crime and punishment in Naples. . . Moving and thought-provoking, the novel deserves to appear on prize lists. It captures, with effective brevity, a city of splendour and squalor and a childhood curtailed"
—Financial Times

ISBN: 9781805331742

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

160 pages