The Natural Disorder of Things - Softcover

Claudio Fratta is a gentle man, a garden designer, naturally solitary. He is obsessed by the need to take revenge on the loan shark who bankrupted his father, as also to come to terms with the death of one of his brothers, a drug addict. What drives this narrative, which begins with a shocking murder, is an erotic obsession that Claudio harbours for the killer. He and his team of gardeners - led by a philosopher Pole - are commissioned by the object of his desire to build a garden in the Italian landscape close to where he lives. But his employer's husband, a cripple, is keeping a watchful eye on Claudio, and keeping his desire hidden is becoming complicated indeed. Andrea Canobbio's masterful and fluid prose captures the central theme of the book: that history can be a burden, a legacy of guilt, silence, and misunderstanding. Professionally, Claudio imposes order on the landscape, but he cannot lay to rest the tragic past for himself and those he loved.