Without Blood (Vintage International) - Softcover

"Baricco continues to blend the best elements of cinema and poetry. . . . Without Blood applies the delicacy of Baricco's style to dark territory: war, human cruelty and revenge." --San Francisco Chronicle"Mesmerizing and starkly beautiful. . . . The effect is awesome." --The Observer (London)"Powerful. . . . Designed not for consumption, but for meditation. This story hangs around the neck, curls into you." --Review of Contemporary Fiction"The lightness of Baricco's prose and his ability to zero in on inexplicable moments of beauty and meaning make Without Blood a compelling read." --Time Out New York

An unforgettable fable about the brutality of war &; and one girl's quest for revenge and healing, from the author of the acclaimed international bestseller Silk.When &; in an unnamed place and time &; Manuel Roca's enemies hunt him down to kill him, they fail to discover Nina, his youngest child, hidden in a hole beneath his farmhouse floor. After this carnage Tito, one of the murderers, discovers Nina's trapdoor. Enthralled by the sight of Nina's perfect innocence, he keeps quiet. By the time she has grown up, Nina's innocence will have bloomed into something else altogether, and one by one the wartime hunters will become the peacetime hunted. But not until a striking old woman calls upon a familiar old man selling newspapers in town can we know what Nina will ultimately make of her brutal legacy.