Swimming to Elba

Anna and Francesca are on the brink of everything: high school, adulthood, and the edge of ambition in their provincial town. It's summer in Piombino, Italy, and in their skimpy bathing suits, flaunting their newly acquired curves, the girls suddenly have everyone in their thrall. This power opens up their imagination to a destiny beyond Piombino; the resort town of Elba is just a ferry ride away, and yet they've never dared to go. Maybe the future is waiting for them there--or somewhere beyond. When their friendship suffers a blow, the girls set off on their own, only to discover that their budding sexuality won't get them any more than better tips at the bar or any farther than the bed of the foreman of the steel mill. As their choices take them to a painful crossroads, the girls must reconnect if they have any hope of escaping their dead-end town. In this poetic, prizewinning debut, Silvia Avallone captures the lost innocence of a generation. Harrowing yet ultimately redemptive, Swimming to Elba is a timely story about the power of a friendship and the way that family and economic dynamics shape our world.