Nymph by Sofia Montrone

Description

Nymph by Sofia Montrone is a lyrical and emotionally charged coming-of-age novel about girlhood, grief, longing, memory, and first love set against the shimmering backdrop of rural Italy.

Growing up at her grandmother’s aging agriturismo, ten-year-old Leo experiences life as a series of collections. She gathers forgotten objects left behind by guests: a pearl earring, a strand of hair, tiny fragments of strangers’ lives. At night, she listens to her father’s intoxicating stories of ancient wars and mythic heroes, weaving fantasy into the fabric of her childhood summers.

But childhood cannot remain untouched forever.

After a devastating accident fractures Leo’s world into a permanent “before” and “after,” the certainties of her early years begin slipping away. As time passes, the once-familiar rhythms of the agriturismo take on new emotional weight. Her beloved Nonna Tina grows older, her brother Max becomes increasingly volatile, and Leo herself begins changing in ways she cannot fully understand.

Then Dolores arrives.

An American girl whose presence feels luminous through Leo’s eyes, Dolores awakens feelings that are thrilling, frightening, and impossible to ignore. Amid sun-soaked summers, shifting family dynamics, and the ache of growing up, Leo falls into the intoxicating confusion of first love while slowly shedding the versions of herself she can no longer remain.

Rich with atmosphere, sensual detail, and emotional precision, Nymph explores desire, identity, memory, and the fragile tension between innocence and experience. Sofia Montrone combines the yearning romantic intensity of Call Me by Your Name with the emotional depth and literary elegance associated with Elena Ferrante to create a striking debut filled with beauty, vulnerability, and aching honesty.

A haunting portrait of girlhood where every summer feels eternal until suddenly it isn’t.

Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 1668206242