So People Know It's Me

<b>In this audaciously original debut, a teenager is sent to juvenile prison off the coast of Naples where he dreams—and writes—of a better future<br> <br>Bringing 90s Naples to life, this virtuosic Italian novel is an extraordinarily moving and thought-provoking look at criminal justice and life in an isolated juvenile detention centre</b><br><br>Zeno is 15, a child in the eyes of the law, but he grew up long ago in the dusty heat of a crime-riddled neighbourhood in Naples. Winding down cobbled streets on his motorbike, he started his career as a petty thief to supplement his mother's income and, every now and then, take his girlfriend Natalina out for pizza in the city’s starlit piazzas. A quick hand at pickpocketing and selling drugs, Zeno is confronted by another boy from a rival gang who has been tasked with taking out the competition. He shoots three times, the boy drops dead, and Zeno is sent to Nisida, an infamous juvenile prison-island off the Neapolitan coast.<br><br>Separated from all he loves by the cruel, glittering sea, with a cell window looking out at the distant beaches, Zeno promises a prison school teacher he’ll write down the story of his life in exchange for a visit home at Christmas. But the sea has eyes everywhere, and someone on the outside wants revenge.<br><br>Boldly original and deeply humane, <i>So People Know It’s Me</i> unleashes Zeno’s luminous, unguarded and defiant voice – dreaming of a fragile future beyond Nisida’s walls. Translated from a unique blend of Italian and Neapolitan dialect, this is a mesmerising and powerful debut novel, the winner of the Nabokov Prize, borne out of the author’s own work as a criminal lawyer called upon to defend minors.