Nowhere Fast

<p><em>Nowhere Fast </em>is the second book in the PI Giorgia Cantini series where in Bologna she investigates the disappearance of Vanessa Liverani a high-class call girl. There Giorgia uncovers a sordid world of prosperous businessmen doctors and lawyers who hire prostitutes for private sex parties. She loathes the predatory behavior of these apparently respectable men - men as empty and rotten as the contemporary society they represent. Much of Nowhere Fast takes place however outside Bologna in the countryside of Emilia-Romagna around the village of Sasso Marconi among the sandstone cliffs of Contrafforte Pliocenico Natural Reserve. But even there Giorgia fails to find an idyllic existence as she gets to know four generations of the Liverani family whose troubled lives are rooted in the older traditions and rhythms of rural life. Between these two worlds Vanessa's young son Willy is trapped. Surrounded by family he is tragically on his own. Meanwhile Giorgia herself struggles between memories of her unruly and joyous youth - where the discovery of sex played a big role - and the bitter realities of her adult life. In Giorgia's view growing up comes to be seen as a layer of ice slowly spreading over our ability to have strong feelings and authentic personal lives. Nowhere Fast was originally published in Italian in 2006. It is second in the PI Giorgia Cantini series after <em>Quo Vadis Baby? </em>(Italica Press 2018). Four more Cantini novels followed <em>Nowhere Fast</em>: <em>Di tutti e di nessuno (</em>2009) <em>Cosa sai della notte</em> (2012) <em>Senza ragione apparente</em> (2015 special mention at Premio Scerbanenco 5) and <em>Come la pioggia sul cellophane</em> (2020). Introduction First English translation 192 pp.</p>