UN FILO DI FUMO / A WISP OF SMOKE

«In 1980 Livio Garzanti wanted to publish this novel of mine, resolving the doubts of some of his eminent coworkers. He asked me, however, almost looking over his shoulder, for a glossary. Understanding his unspoken reasons, I began to fill it in reluctantly: then, little by little, I took a liking to it and had a great fun. The novel is now being reprinted seventeen years later, and the glossary, in the meantime, has become redundant. If we republish it now, it is because it subtly amuses us. The cue for A Wisp of Smoke was given to me by an anonymous flyer, found among my grandfather’s papers, which warned against the maneuvers of a rogue sulfur trader. For the rest, names and situations are to be charged to my imagination. Then, when it came out, my mother liked the novel: I dedicate it to her memory».
Andrea Camilleri