I Before E (The Elba Trilogy)

"In his third poignant coming-of-age novel, Banks has painted a masterpiece, giving us the final puzzle pieces to his Elba Trilogy, ferrying the reader once again between the islands of New York and Elba and all they represent."— Sarah Lacy, former TechCrunch journalist, author of Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good.“Meticulously crafted to fit the larger narrative of the trilogy, and revisiting beloved characters from the earlier books, I Before E is a fitting capstone, and the final chapter in what one hopes will be only the opening of Banks’ literary output.”— Kilian Melloy, Media Critic“Compelling and surprising, Banks’s writing defies traditional genres to dive into the hearts and minds of his characters and—in this culmination to the trilogy—beautifully interweave with his earlier stories.”— Alexandra Teague, California-Book-Award-winning poet and novelist"... a very thoughtful and emotionally layered story ... raw, honest, and handled with a lot of thought and care."— ReaderViews, https://readerviews.com/reviews/i-before-e-banks/i before e, except by the sea,where when drowning I may,find padre. Padre!The third novel in the Elba trilogy, I Before E tells the story of Paolo Viglietti, a young Italian-American immigrant whose desperate struggle to understand his father’s drowning triggers a turbulent coming of age—one that ultimately leads him back to Italy to confront the family mysteries he's grappled with his entire life.Set between 1986 and 2000, I Before E follows Paolo's journey from his suffocating childhood in Little Italy (New York City), to his teenage liberation in the West Village, to his college escape to UC Berkeley, and finally to his return to Italy and search for answers in Rome, Padua, and his hometown of Portoferraio, Elba.__Drew Banks’s Elba Trilogy—Able Was I, Ere I Saw Elba, and I Before E—is a multigenerational literary fiction series set between New York, Paris, and across Italy, and exploring themes of identity, exile, and chosen family. While these novels can be read independently, there are several characters and situations threaded through the trilogy that add nuance and texture to each story, especially given these characters and situations are conveyed through the lens of the novels' different protagonists.This genre-blending trilogy will captivate readers who enjoy LGBTQ+ literature, coming-of-age journeys, historical fiction, family drama, romance, mysteries, European settings, and evocative “armchair travel” storytelling. Read more