Le mele di Kafka

Inspired by an anecdote during a trip Franz Kafka took to Luzern, this is a story that emphasizes the importance of literature and books in our lives, sometimes much more than we realize.

Abramo Ferrascini is an ironmonger from Bellano, who has recently been introduced to the art of playing boules by the best player in town who lost his right arm in a work related incident three years earlier. Now Abramo has an excellent chance of winning the semifinals of the provincial championship that takes place on Sunday.
Unfortunately, his brother in law who lives in Switzerland is very ill and his wife is adamant on going to support her sister and say her last goodbyes to her brother in law. The Swiss doctors have given the man no more than 48 years to live, and everyone knows how precise the Swiss are! Abramo has no other choice than to head to Luzern where he hopes that his brother in law will die before Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest, so that he can be back in time for the tournament…

Andrea Vitali was born in Bellano in 1956 on the Eastern shore of Lake Como where he still lives and works as a doctor. He began his career as a novel writer in 1989 and has kept up his prolific career since then, collecting a great number of literary prizes.

A new episode in Vitali’s comedy of every-day life, set on the shores of Lake Como, in the town where Andrea Vitali was born and where he now lives and works as a practicing doctor. The area has recently started to attract visitors from all over the world, including Hollywood stars, such as George Clooney, who has bought a villa nearby.
In his amusing, intelligent, very enjoyable novels, Andrea Vitali has reinvented Italian comedy: he manages to restore the most accurate and profound image of Italy, amid a restless and entertaining whirlpool of colourful characters and surprises. His characters are typical provincial types, wallowing in their daily tedium. They’re gossipy, envious, and nosy, but at the same time naïve and terribly human.