The Silence of the Choir

by Goncourt Prize winning author

A polyphonic tale of immigration and community by the winner of the 2021 Prix Goncourt

SHORTLISTED FOR THE OXFORD-WEIDENFELD TRANSLATION PRIZE 2025

Seventy-two men arrive in the Sicilian countryside. They are “immigrants”, “refugees” or “migrants”. But in Altino, they are called the ragazzi, the ‘guys’ that the Santa Marta Association have taken responsibility for. And their presence changes the course of life in this small Sicilian town. 

While they await their fate, the ragazzi encounter all kinds of people: a strange vicar who rewrites their pasts, a woman committed to offering them asylum, a man determined to refuse it, an older ragazzo who has become an interpreter, and a reclusive poet who no longer writes.

Each character, wherever they may come from, is forced to reflect on what it means to meet people they know nothing about. As each brings a different view, a cacophony of discordant voices resonates to the end, when the final one reduces the choir to silence.  

Contributor: Alison Anderson (Translated by)

Translator: Alison Anderson

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