May This Never End
Simona Sparaco
Einaudi
Year: 2020
Pages: 312
What if you knew the exact expiration date for everything in your life? Would you let yourself love and suffer? Or avoid it altogether?
Amanda is thirty years old and single, living at home with her mum. Ever since she was little, Amanda has believed she could foresee the day when everything in her life would end. It all started with her passion for math, and although she quit school, her obsession with numbers has remained.
Out of fear, she plays it safe, shying away from any chance at fulfilment and denying herself the right to dream. She has no boyfriend, lives with her mother, and has few friends—save for a showgirl who is as cynical as she is stunning, and a neighbor who also happens to be her psychotherapist. The day she loses yet another job, Amanda agrees to look after her childhood friend’s seven-year-old son, even though she dislikes children. Samuele, however, is similar to her: a bit of a misfit and in need of love. Through her relationship with him and his father, Davide, Amanda attempts to confront the complexities of her own life…until the numbers challenge her with a new expiration date. It is time to choose whether to give up on life once again or, for the first time, take a risk.