Letters of a Novice

The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.

When five strangers with nothing in common come together at a remote roadside eatery, they place their orders with the diner's omniscient owner, who seems to know everything about them ... and is eerily reminiscent of Jesus Christ.

A young Roman woman during the 1950s is on the verge of becoming engaged to a man. She goes to Cinecittà to do an audition as an extra and is thrust into this almost infinite night during which she discovers herself.

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.

Carlo and Elisa are a successful couple. He’s a university professor and writer facing a creative block; she’s a brilliant, sharp-witted journalist, known for her internationally published editorials. They live in Rome, moving between accomplishments and routine, affection and something that might be fading. In search of new energy, they travel to Morocco with their lifelong friends, Anna and Paolo, and their thirteen-year-old daughter Vittoria—bright, curious, a little eccentric. Tensions soon rise.

94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

Alina is a brilliant and enterprising woman who runs a successful art gallery in Palermo. Her husband Daniele, a successful orchestra conductor, cultured and intelligent, is not a regular presence. One day, while accompanying Daniele to the airport, Alina feels a sense of emptiness. She will try to fill it with a butcher who is always joking and full of erotic allusions and who arouses a strong attraction in her.

Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.

In the early 1960s, during the Vatican II era, a young woman training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, sexuality and the changing church.

A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.