IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT A TRAVELLER

Born in Cuba in 1923, the author grew up in Italy and died in 1985. We have here a Vintage Classic, a breathtakingly inventive novel by 'the greatest Italian writer of the 20th century' - Guardian. You go into a bookshop and buy 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveller' by Italo Calvino. You like it. But there is a printer's error in your copy. You take it back to the shop and get a replacement. But the replacement seems to be a totally different story. You track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective story, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest. But the hero of them all is you, the reader. Curious? 12 intriguing chapters with titles including 'In a Network of Lines that Intersect', 'On the Carpet of Leaves Illuminated by the Moon' and 'Around an Empty Grave'. What story awaits its end? This dazzling post-modernist masterpiece combines a love story, a detective story and a sardonic dissection of the publishing industry in a scintillating allegory of reading and is based on a witty analogy between the reader's desire to finish the story and a lover's desire to consummate his or her passion. 258pp, paperback.