{"product_id":"a-very-cold-winter","title":"Fausta Cialente: A Very Cold Winter [2026]","description":"\u003cp\u003eTranslated from the Italian by Julia Nelsen\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA novel of secrets and female solidarity set in post-war Milan, by one of Italy's most significant women writers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is 1946 and Milan is in ruins. Camilla opens her illegally occupied attic to her extended family as they rebuild their lives among the rubble. The absence of men-lost to war, death, or abandonment-leaves the burden of survival to the women, who use the attic to begin to imagine fragile futures: Camilla works to carry the family toward dignity and normalcy; Lalla dreams of becoming a novelist to escape their grim reality; Regina, widowed by the war, pins her hopes on her infant daughter; Alba chases independence and love. Varying political ideologies, loyalties, and wartime secrets filter through the house, creating a thick net of tension. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFausta Cialente's exquisite prose captures the frailty of the human heart in its desperate search for connection. As the narrative roams from the thoughts of character to character, the residents of the attic consider their own complicity and moral compromises. Tender, thought-provoking, and devastatingly beautiful, \u003ci\u003eA Very Cold Winter \u003c\/i\u003eis about the impossibility of forgetting the past and the difficulty of living with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'An exquisite chronicle of frozen hearts and their gradual thaw.' \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Cause for celebration' \u003cb\u003eJhumpa Lahiri\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cialente, Fausta \u0026 Nelsen, Julia","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":53625529729363,"sku":"9781398564039","price":9.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/cialente-fausta-nelsen-julia-fausta-cialente-a-very-cold-winter-2026-9781398564039-1235115584.jpg?v=1777760232","url":"https:\/\/chaptersbookstore.com\/products\/a-very-cold-winter","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}