The Book of Hidden Things

"Yes! I loved this book. This one might get filed under magical realism. It’s very literary. It’s Italian, and it’s such an Italian book – it makes you want to go to Italy, with all the descriptions of the food. It’s about a group of middle-aged friends in Italy, who have a pact to meet up every year. The guy who insisted on the pact is their leader, and a very charming, strange person – and he doesn’t show up. They think he’s disappeared; they’re not sure what happened to him, and they investigate. As they do, we get the backstories of these characters, who are all not quite living the lives they thought they would be living. It’s a book about ageing away from the possibility of youth, and into the reality of middle age – but then there’s a backdrop of a fairy realm. So, it’s very much about desire and fantasy and reality – in a way that is also at the heart of The End of Mr. Y. It’s nice to bookend with these two: they’re both really about how we endure as humans–how we’re capable of imagining perfect things, and yet have to live imperfect lives."