The Disappearance of Signora Giulia – Piero Chiara (1970, trans. Jill Foulston 2015) 122 pages
The Disappearance of Signora Giulia was initially published in an Italian newspaper as a serial and is now available in English translation thanks to Pushkin, as part of their Vertigo imprint. It is a quick, snappy crime thriller that does not aim for trite resolution but rather an exploration beneath the surface of a life to the murky depths.
Corrado Sciancalelpre is “blessed with a special form of intuition, that peculiar mental agility that enables great policemen to delve into the minds of criminals.”
Thankfully, he is also happy married and liked in the town in northern Lombardy where he works – no tortured alcoholic with a secret past here.
A powerful lawyer, Esengrini, asks Sciancalelpre to investigate the titular vanishing of his wife. Every Thursday, Guilia has been going to Milan to visit their daughter at boarding school, but now she has failed to return and two bags of her things are missing too. Sciancalelpre agrees and what follows is essentially a police procedural, but the short length of the story ensures the pacing remains tight.
Sciancalelpre is resolutely unsentimental but not without sympathy. The more he investigates, the more he feels for the missing woman:
“He didn’t say ‘Poor Signora Giulia to Esengrini when he visited him in his office every few days towards evening. With Esengrini, he spoke only of the undeniably disappointing results of a search conducted throughout the whole of Italy with Signora Giulia’s photo.”
It’s impossible to say much more about a crime novella without including spoilers. Suffice to say there are plenty of red herrings, people and relationships who are not what they seem. The Disappearance of Signora Giulia is a diverting read, when you’re in the mood for a crime novel you’ll finish quickly. It is not a simple tale though, and the resolution is a complex one that leaves questions unanswered. This wasn’t a source of frustration but rather felt realistic.
I really enjoyed this, Chiara’s first novel to be translated into English despite his huge popularity in Italy, and I hope there will be many more translations to follow.
madame bibi lophile recommends 
I really liked this novella too. As you say, the degree of ambiguity in the ending actually makes it feel quite realistic. I wonder if Pushkin have plans to translate and publish any more of this author’s work?
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It was your championing of the Vertigo series that made me pick this up Jacqui, so thank you! I hope Pushkin will publish more by Chiara, I believe he’s really popular in Italy so hopefully they’d see it as a safe investment to get more of his work translated 🙂
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This sounds like one for my partner’s list. Perhaps Pushkin will commission more of his backlist if it’s successful.
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I hope your partner enjoys it Susan! It would be great if Pushkin commissioned more.
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I’m going to download this one if I can find it in French. Thanks!
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Great! I hope it’s available in French translation.
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I’ve found these Pushkin Vertigos something of a mixed bag, and not always terribly well translated. This one sounds intriguing – how did you feel about the translation in it?
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That’s a real shame as the Vertigo series is a great idea. I didn’t find the translation jarring at all, it worked for me. What was the problem with the others you’ve read? Did it not flow or not make much sense?
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Flow, really – a couple of the Italian ones in particular put me off rather. But on the other hand I loved Vertigo and She Who Was No More from Boileau-Narcejac, so swings and roundabouts for me definitely.
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It would be interesting to know if it’s the same translator for the Italian ones – I’ll investigate!
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I’ve only read one Vertigo, I think, but I liked it very much. I should really get round to investigating more – especially as they’re often quite short! 🙂
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Yes, me too! I’m pretty sure this is the only one I’ve read but I’d really like to read more.
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