Born in Manchester in 1954, Tim Parks moved permanently to Italy in 1980. Author of novels, non-fiction and essays, he has won the Somerset Maugham, Betty Trask and Llewellyn Rhys awards, and been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.His works include Destiny, Europa, Dreams of Rivers and Seas and the 'Italian series': Italian Neighbours, An Italian Education and A Season with Verona.
Spot-on - a very accurate, very entertaining and at the same time rather profound book * Daily Telegraph * Parks is more than just an effortless raconteur playing for laughs...he offers detailed cultural observation, witty yet eagle-eyed, of what makes Italians so Italian * The Times * Tim Parks is Italian enough to understand the country, foreign enough to see its peculiarities and talented enough to make them funny without resorting to cliche * Daily Express *