Nova

A nova is an astronomical event that occurs when a powerful nuclear explosion erupts on the surface of a white-dwarf star, which makes it brighter than usual, like a new star, destroying all celestial bodies within the range of the explosion. Davide is a neurosurgeon who lives in Lucca with his wife Barbara and his son Tommaso. One evening, as he's out for dinner with his wife and son, Davide watches Barbara being harassed by a drunken thug, but he's unable to move and step in. Just then, a stranger appears, who attacks the aggressor and forces him to flee, threatening him with a knife. After the event, Davide feels unsettled and faces a dormant side of himself with which he'd never succeeded in getting in touch until then. He decides to look for the stranger, who's called Diego and is a Zen monk with a violent past, a hybrid figure who at times recalls a young Bruce Wayne and other times a hitman from a Tarantino film, who recites grand speeches before “punishing” the wrongdoers he meets. Diego becomes a friend, a spiritual guide, who teaches Davide to get in touch with his aggressive side, to not fear it while also not succumbing to it. From that moment on, Davide lives a different life and subsequent events will lead him to wonder how far one should push violence and which consequences it entails. A novel that narrates the eruption of violence in everyday life, with philosophical digressions on the universe and human nature.

Nova Fabio Bacà,
Adelphi, 2021