Ti Amo

Translated by Martin Aitken

The protagonist of Ti Amo is a woman who is in a deep and real, but relatively new relationship with a man from Milan. She has moved there, they have married, and they are close in every way. Then he is diagnosed with cancer.

It's serious, but they try to go about their lives as best they can. But when the doctor tells the woman that her husband has less than a year to live - without telling the husband - death comes between them. She knows it's coming, but he doesn't - and he doesn't seem to want to know.

Ti Amo is an incredibly beautiful and harrowing novel, filled with tenderness and grief, love and loneliness. It delves into the complex emotions of bereavement, and in less than 100 pages manages to encapsulate an extraordinary scope and depth, asking how and for whom we can live, when the one we love best is about to die.