Sparring with Shadows (20th Anniversary Edition)

David Martinesi is a first-generation Italian Australian growing up in an inner-city suburb. He is fighting the shadows cast by his Italian upbringing, and this summer he is quietly waiting for change. 

Change comes when he is befriended by confident, street-wise Nathan.

But tragedy comes too…

Archie Fusillo has always displayed the rare ability of writing literary page turners that can have the reader alternately weeping and laughing out loud. So it is wonderful to have this new edition of Sparring with Shadows. Published in 1997 to critical acclaim and popularity among readers it references Fusillo’s experience growing up in an Italian family in Melbourne. As with all his subsequent novels, he explores the vulnerability of our boys, developing the theme that it is acceptable, indeed necessary, for them to express their feelings. Too long out of print Sparring with Shadows is ready to engage a new generation of readers.

Lesley Reece AM, Director
The Literature Centre