The prodigious life of Isidore Sifflotin

In The Prodigious Life of Isidoro Sifflotin , Enrico Ianniello tells the story of Isidoro, a Neapolitan boy who, with the help of his bird Ali, creates a new language that carries a message of humanity and freedom.

In the ankle region of Italy's boot, our hero, Isidoro Sifflotin, is born. In the little house in Mattinella, which has stood for three hundred years and "will never collapse," the prodigious Isidoro refines a miraculous gift, received by some unknown means from Quirino—his cross-eyed father, poet, and communist—and Estrela, his pasta-making mother. What is this gift? The simplest: Isidoro has the gift of whistling, and he whistles prodigiously.

With his inseparable yellow-mustachioed Indian mynah, Ali, and the help of a rowdy gang, Isidoro creates a new language, Whistling, and a revolutionary message magically begins to spread. Just as the project of a happy, need-free humanity is about to take shape, Isidoro's existence is turned upside down. Taking with him his mother Stella's teaching that great changes come with maturity, Isidoro, now a teenager, discovers Naples and, yes, he encounters, without even realizing it, another prodigious and silent language: that of love.

It's as if Enrico Ianniello's whistle summons the intelligence of the heart, the miracles of the imagination, and the joy of invention. Isidoro Sifflotin is a faithful friend to all good readers. One of the happiest and most surprising voices in Italian literature.

The Prodigious Life of Isidoro Sifflotin is Enrico Ianniello's debut novel. It won the 2015 Campiello Opera Prima Prize, the 2015 John Fante First Opera Prize, the 2015 Cuneo Prize, and the 2015 Bancarella Selection Prize.