The Rodriguez Solitaire

Shuttled back and forth between divorced parents, Nina is 12, and has few friends. The Christmas holidays are just around the corner, followed by the New Year celebrations. While everyone is looking forward to the party, Nina is sent to a village in the middle of nowhere nestled in the Tuscan hills to stay with relatives of her father. At first it seems like a punishment, but the experience soon becomes revelatory: the stories that her father used to tell her as a child are real. But what other secrets are her family hiding? Who is the mysterious creature living in the greenhouse? Surrounded by bizarre characters, mysterious boys, enigmatic presences in the woods and the legend of a mysterious bird-man, Nina not only discovers her family's hidden past, but also the majesty of nature and the secrets of a timeless world. Alice Keller puts her writing skills to the test with her first novel, hefty both in pages and plot - here, without softening the blow, she explores the difficulties experienced by a father and daughter in talking to each other, looking at each other and embracing when the time to make up has passed, and with it, so much silence. Indeed, time is one of the protagonists of "The Rodriguez Solitaire": the way it flows, and the ways in which we attempt to manage it, or stand by while it marches on. But narrative time also reigns supreme here, with the twists and turns that accelerate it to the point of collapse and then slow it down again, accompanying the reader towards an open ending. There's no solution, there are no answers here. This is the last secret; the last quest is left to the reader. Il solitario di Rodriguez Alice Keller Risma Editore, 2020