EDGT2741292Marie-Helene Bertino ci regala un romanzo straordinario sul desiderio e l’appartenenza, sul sentirsi soli, sullo scoprirsi un po’ strani e sul soffrire di misofonia, un romanzo che esplora la fragilità e la resilienza della vita, descrivendo in maniera sorprendente e originale cosa significhi essere divisi tra due mondi, isolati in un luogo che è casa e allo stesso tempo non lo è.«Una profonda riflessione su che cosa significhi essere una persona.» - The New York Times Book ReviewNata nel settembre del 1977 a Philadelphia, Adina Giorno arriva sulla Terra proprio quando la Voyager 1 viene lanciata nello spazio insieme al suo prezioso disco d’oro. Con una sensibilità e uno spirito di osservazione fuori dal comune, Adina sa fin dall’età di quattro anni di essere diversa dagli altri. Grazie a un dispositivo per fax portato a casa dalla madre Térèse, infatti, si mette in contatto con la sua famiglia di origine, ad anni luce di distanza da lei, e scopre la sua missione: osservare e riferire le peculiarità degli esseri umani ai suoi superiori.Per anni Adina stessa sperimenta le angosce e le gioie dell’esistenza sulla Terra, e faxa resoconti sul crescere e vivere tra i terrestri, sui loro programmi televisivi, i centri commerciali, i rapporti di amicizia, gli animali, le stranezze del loro linguaggio. Ormai adulta, però, in un periodo di particolare vulnerabilità, decide di condividere le sue osservazioni in un libro. C’è la possibilità che non sia da sola?

A Novel

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

North Point Press

Hill & Wang

Macmillan

United States, United States of America

Italy, Italy

S.l, 2024

FR, 2024

From the acclaimed author of Parakeet, Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a wise, tender novel about a woman who doesn’t feel at home on Earth.
At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but she reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she is different: She possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of Earthlings.
For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. Then, at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she is not alone?
Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life on our Earth and in our universe. It is a remarkable evocation of the feeling of being in exile at home, and it introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times.

At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she is different; she also possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of earthlings.
For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. But at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she is not alone?
A blazing novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life in our universe, Marie-Helene Bertinos Beautyland is a remarkable evocation of feeling in exile at home and introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times.

2025-10-08