So people know it’s me

Youngster Zeno, just 15, grew up long ago in the crime-riddled Forcella neighbourhood, where he started his career as a petty thief to supplement his mother’s income and, every now and then, take his girlfriend Natalina out for pizza. A quick hand at pickpocketing and selling drugs, Zeno’s confronted by another boy from a rival gang who’s been tasked with taking out the competition. He shoots three times, the boy drops dead, and Zeno is sent to Nisida, an infamous juvenile prison-island off the Neapolitan coast. There, Zeno meets Ms Martina, a teacher of Italian at the prison school, who tells him about another famous Zeno in Italian literature and encourages him to start putting pen to paper to write his innermost thoughts. This book unveils Zeno’s raw, unguarded glistening voice, as he harbours a growing resentment against the cruel sea separating him from living his life and dreams of a better future.