Laura Serra Laura Serra i(A129800 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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9 20 y separately published work icon The Household Guide To Dying Debra Adelaide , ( trans. Laura Serra with title La Manutenzione Della Vita Vera : Romanzo ) Milan : Salani Editore , 2009 Z1490014 2008 single work novel

'When Delia Bennet - author and domestic advice columnist - is diagnosed with cancer, she knows it's time to get her house in order. After all, she's got to secure the future for her husband, their two daughters and their five beloved chickens. But as she writes lists and makes plans, questions both large and small creep in. Should she divulge her best culinary secrets? Read her favourite novels one last time? Plan her daughters' far-off weddings?

'Complicating her dilemma is the matter of the past, and a remote country town where she fled as a pregnant teenager, only to leave broken-hearted eight years later.

'Researching and writing her final Household Guide, Delia is forced to confront the pieces of herself she left behind. She learns what matters is not the past but the present - that the art of dying is all about truly living.' (Publisher's blurb)

25 10 y separately published work icon Grass for His Pillow Lian Hearn , ( trans. Laura Serra with title Il Viaggio Di Takeo ) Milan : Oscar Mondadori , 2005 Z1068839 2003 single work novel fantasy young adult

'The pseudonymous Hearn's second thrilling installment of her Tales of the Otori trilogy (after 2002's Across the Nightingale Floor) is once again set in a magic-haunted version of medieval Japan where no one wields unchallenged authority and no one is safe. The swirl of treacherous, shifting clan alliances threatens to overwhelm young lovers and aristocrats Takeo and Kaede. Separated throughout most of the action, the two must develop their talents while trying to maintain their integrity. Takeo possesses superhuman gifts such as the ability to become invisible, project a double image of himself and hear distant conversations; however, he must discipline his skills and control his impetuous temper. He also must work out his relationship with the Tribe, a treacherous secret organization of spies and assassins that saved his life but that may have murdered his father. Kaede, meanwhile, has to escape the powerless role of a woman if she is to protect herself and her family domain from predatory neighbors'.

Source: bookseller's website.

18 9 y separately published work icon Brilliance of the Moon Lian Hearn , ( trans. Laura Serra with title L'ultima Luna ) Milan : Arnoldo Mondadori , 2004 Z1119880 2004 single work novel fantasy young adult

Peace comes at the price of bloodshed-five battles will buy you peace, four to win and one to lose. At the temple of Terayama, the words of the blind sage's prophecy continue to haunt Takeo as he readies his armies for battle. Determined to avenge Shigeru's death and claim his rightful inheritance, Takeo and Kaede, together with Takeo's forces; fight their way to the domain of Maruyama. But then they must separate. Takeo makes plans for a battle by the sea, and Kaede returns to her family's home at Shirakawa. Will they see each other again? (Publication summary)

 

29 20 y separately published work icon Across the Nightingale Floor Lian Hearn , ( trans. Laura Serra with title La leggenda di otori )with title Il Canto Dell'usignolo ) Milan : Oscar Mondadori , 2002 Z962493 2002 single work novel fantasy young adult (taught in 3 units) 'In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the murderous warlord, Iida Sadamu, surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard. Brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people, Takeo has learned only the ways of peace. Why, then, does he possess the deadly skills that make him so valuable to the sinister Tribe? These supernatural powers will lead him to his violent destiny within the walls of Inuyama - and to an impossible longing for a girl who can never be his. His journey is one of revenge and treachery, honour and loyalty, beauty and magic, and the passion of first love.' (Source: Publisher's website)
4 1 y separately published work icon Matilda's Stepchildren A. Bertram Chandler , Z810922 1979 single work novel science fiction
— Appears in: Urania , June no. 841 1980; (p. 3-182)
'John Grimes, owner of the deep space pinnace Little Sister, could not afford to be fussy about whom he carried. But there were compensations, for if his ship had not been chartered to take Fenella Pruin, muckraking reporter, to exclusive New Venusberg he would never have been able to visit that fabulous pleasure planet. But there was to be a little pleasure in it for him. Among the visitors was a Shaara princess who owed him vengeance. The planet's authorities were after Fenella's blood to prevent her snooping. Had it not been for the boomerang throwing abilities of two sexy dancers from New Alice, the spaceman and the journalist would have been sacrificed to make a Roman holiday. The spectator sports of the very rich and very depraved involve a high mortality rate among the players.'

[Source: www.fictionwise.com]
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