Foreign rights: Valeria Zito (valeria.zito@einaudi.it)
She was a girl from the working class suburbs, like so many others, without any big dreams. Then fate stepped in and offered her an opportunity; she grabbed it. She became the Swede. A new, grand female character from one of Italy’s top crime writers.
Rome no longer has a master. Everyone can take a piece of it. She did.
Sharon, aka Sharo: twenty-five years old, blond, tall, thin, with a Nordic face that’s always sulky. She isn’t a classic beauty and yet she attracts men like honey attracts flies. Ever since her father died, she has been taking care of her mother, an invalid; they live together in a miserable apartment in the suburbs. Sharo has a vocational certificate, she is fairly good with a PC, and she has walked away from quite a few precarious jobs, always for the same reason: her boss’ wandering hands. Then one day, she makes a mysterious “delivery” for her boyfriend, a petty criminal, and her existence changes: it’s a turning point. Almost by chance, and with the protection of a decadent nobleman, Sharo begins her irresistible rise through the criminal ranks. GHB and other synthetic drugs have become widespread at every level of society and this lets her earn more money than she ever dreamed was possible. But the organized crime that counts and that has always controlled the market – the Calabrians, the Albanians, neighborhood gangs – notice her and begins to keep an eye on her, to look at her with respect, fear, and hate. There, in that environment, in the dark zone of the city, nobody calls her by name anymore. For everybody, she is the Swede.
Giancarlo De Cataldo
Giancarlo De Cataldo was born in Taranto. He lives and works in Rome where he’s a judge of the First Appeal Assizes Court. He has been judge in many important and well-known cases, dealing with Mafia, murder, terrorism. His most famous novel is Romanzo Criminale (2002), that became a movie directed by Michele Placido and an equally successful TV series, directed by Stefano Sollima (also director of TV series Gomorra, based on Roberto Saviano’s novel). The series was broadcast by Channel 4 in UK. The English translation of the novel was published in 2015 by Corvus Publishing. Three of his short stories are translated in the anthologies Italian crime (Bitter Lemon Press), Cocaine and Judges (MacLehose Press). His novel The father and the foreigner is published by Europa Editions. He also wrote short stories, graphic novels, and scripts for cinema and TV networks.
His novel Suburra, co-written with the journalist Carlo Bonini, has been adapted for cinema by director Stefano Sollima and it is available worldwide on Netflix. He is story-editor of the Netflix TV series based on Suburra (currently at its second season, and renewed for a third). Suburra is published in English by Europa Editions. His most recent novels are L’agente del caos (2018), Alba nera (2019), Quasi per caso (2019, Premio Ippolito Nievo 2021), Io sono il castigo (2020), Tre passi per un delitto (2020, with Cristina Cassar Scalia e Maurizio De Giovanni), Un cuore sleale (2020), Il suo freddo pianto (2021), La svedese (2022).