Ask the Dust (Special Edition)

Special hardcover edition with three-sided painting of Ask the Dust , John Fante's most acclaimed novel. With a previously unpublished foreword by Claudio Willer, poet and expert on the Beat Generation.

In 1930s Los Angeles, in a cheap hotel room on Bunker Hill, lives Arturo Bandini. The young Italian-American left his parents' home in Boulder, Colorado, intent on becoming the great writer he is certain he will be. He took only two suitcases, one of them filled with copies of his most important literary achievement to date: the short story "The Little Dog Laughed," published in a magazine by his editor and personal hero, J.C. Hackmuth.

With money running out and a creative shortage that stubbornly thwarts his convictions, he finds himself struggling with an obsessive passion for Camilla Lopez, a Mexican waitress who dreams of finding a good husband and quitting her job. Together, they begin a turbulent relationship, rooted in desire, jealousy, contempt, love, and hate.

Bandini spends his days immersed in a chaotic city that takes on a life of its own in the writing of John Fante, one of the most influential figures in 20th-century American literature. Both the power of its protagonist's voice and its vivid depiction of Los Angeles make Ask the Dust Fante's most iconic work and a must-read.

“John Fante's work is either unknown to you or unforgettable. He was not the kind of writer to stay halfway.” — The New York Times