Born in Manchester, Tim Parks grew up in London and studied at Cambridge and Harvard. In 1981 he moved to Italy where he has lived ever since. He is the author of novels, non-fiction and essays, including Europa, Cleaver, A Season with Verona and Teach Us to Sit Still. He has won the Somerset Maugham, Betty Trask and Llewellyn Rhys awards, and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He lectures on literary translation in Milan, writes for publications such as the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books, and his many translations from the Italian include works by Moravia, Calvino, Calasso, Tabucchi and Machiavelli.
Sharp, funny and satirical... This is one to relish * Guardian * Neatly written, full of calamitous moments in which the comedy is suddenly elbowed aside by genuine emotion -- D J Taylor * Spectator * Hovering adroitly between tragedy and farce...a good novel to savour by the pool in Tuscany this summer -- Angus Clarke * The Times * Duckworth is a worthy heir to a tradition of seductive, cultured literary monsters that includes Humbert Humbert, Hannibal Lecter and John Lanchester's Tarquin Winot -- John Dugdale * Sunday Times * mordant thriller -- three stars * Telegraph *