Novelist · Cultural Curator · Allegro Assai Press
James
James
Abruzzo
Four decades inside the world’s great cultural institutions. A debut novel. The kind of writing that could only come after a life like this.
Four decades inside the world’s great cultural institutions. A debut novel. The kind of writing that could only come after a life like this.
A Sicilian-American Journey · James Abruzzo
Fefè arrives in America with Sicily still inside him: the sea, the family traditions, the taste of fennel, fish, and bread. He meets Lena — brilliant, American, powerful. Their marriage carries Alfredo from the Upper West Side to the Berkshires, from Sicily to London, through concerts, meals, friendships, rivalries, and the intimate politics of family.
Food becomes language. Music becomes memory. Love becomes something harder to define. At sixty, Alfredo finds himself drawn toward a younger Polish artist whose presence unsettles the life he has so carefully built.
“Fefè is the story of a man who has commanded the room his entire life and must finally ask what it has cost him.”
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Twenty-seven pieces chosen by James Abruzzo for specific moments in the novel. Scan a QR code in the printed book to arrive at the right chapter’s music — or explore the full playlist.