Critically acclaimed and award-winning hybrid novel about growing up with deaf parents and how language shapes us and makes us who we are.

All families have their own mythology, but in Claudia's family the stories do not connect. The mother claims she met Claudia's father when he was about to jump off a bridge. The father claims he saved Claudia's mother from a robbery. Both parents are deaf, but that is also the only thing they have in common - and they never teach their children sign language. It is in this communicative chaos and conflict-filled environment that Claudia and her neighbor grow up, in a world characterized by misunderstandings, frustration and silence.

When the parents divorce, Claudia grows up partly in a southern Italian village, partly in Brooklyn. As an adult, she continues to move around, but everywhere she experiences the same strangeness and homelessness. Through books, travels, punk music, friendships and love, she creates her own story about where she comes from and who she is.

Strangers I Know is a book in constant motion, a portrait of an unconventional family and an insightful exploration of family, growing up and belonging.

The author

Claudia Durastanti (b.1984) is author and translator. She has published four critically acclaimed novels, the latest of which, Fremmede je kender, was nominated for several awards, including the prestigious Strega Prize and the Viareggio Prize and gave the author his international breakthrough. It is the author's first book in Danish.