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A highly original and tender exploration of loss, love of language and one little boy trying to make sense of the world

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´They always tell you that you shouldn´t tell lies, but without lies I´d already be in an orphanage.
This, in any case, is my first true lie´

Luca and his mum are like two peas in a pod in their special, fragile world.

Then, one winter morning his mother doesn´t wake up. Luca suddenly finds himself alone for the first time. Terrified of what telling the truth might bring, he decides to keep the biggest secret of his life. Luca goes along to school every day, pretending everything is as it always has been. But he returns home every night to a cold, dark house. So he begins to build a protective bubble with the memories of his mother, the words and stories he so loves - and his cat Blue - against the truth on the other side of the bedroom door.

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Marina Mander is the author of two previous books, including a collection of short stories. Her debut novel The First True Lie is her first book to be published in English. She works in publishing in Italy.

Stephen Twilley is managing editor of the online review Public Books and the translator of several books from Italian, including Francesco Pacifico´s The Story of My Purity and Fabio Stassi´s Charlie Chaplin´s Last Dance.

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