The Anniversary

Like Albert Camus, Bajani is a poet of estrangement, ever focused on the condition that eats at the heart of modern man, perpetually pitting him against himself * TLS *
Written with wisdom and coiled passion, The Anniversary dramatizes the struggles of a wife and a mother for freedom, autonomy and self-realization against the forces of repression. It is a brilliant portrait of a single soul and her interior life, but also of a society in flux, in the process of change, in the process also of staying the same. Bajani’s novel is intense, sharply imagined and fascinating – Colm Tóibín
The Anniversary is about patriarchy and family and the dream of self-determination. It is also about the possibilities of fiction and the novel as a form. Bajani is an extraordinary and uncompromising artist. Every page is written with lucidity, depth, honesty and forensic intelligence – Katie Kitamura
A book that confronts the purity of fact, the tyranny of memory, and the totalitarianism of family like no other – Jhumpa Lahiri
With a voice both implacable and refined, Andrea Bajani plants a mine under the picture of a family. And he makes it explode in his truest book yet – Donatella Di Pietrantonio
A deeply affecting, important book. A sharp analysis and at the same time a tragic farewell to one’s own family – Jenny Erpenbeck
I was hooked from the first page. This is a brutal and addictive book, one that I will return to again and again. There is not a word out of place. I’m in awe of Andrea Bajani’s powers – Avni Doshi
I have read more than one Bajani novel. Each is completely unexpected, and each is somehow startling and able to take up residence in my life. This is what I long for in a novel. Bajani is a rare, rare find – Richard Ford
A merciless and beautiful book – Georgi Gospodinov
Sharp as a showdown, poignant as a farewell – Antonio Scurati

Andrea Bajani is the author of several award-winning novels including If You Kept a Record of Sins, Every Promise, and The Book of Homes, which have been translated into over twenty languages. The Anniversary was a huge best-seller in Italy and won the Strega Prize in 2025. Born in Rome, he now teaches creative writing at Rice University in Texas.

Geoffrey Brock is the author of three books of poems, the editor of The FSG Book of Twentieth-Century Italian Poetry, and the award-winning translator of numerous volumes from Italian.

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