The Castle of Crossed Destinies (Brief Encounters)

A magical, mystical novella about the art and power of storytelling, this is Italo Calvino's miniature masterpiece.

A group of travellers chance to meet, first in a castle, then in a tavern. Having mysteriously lost their powers of speech, they must tell their tales using only a deck of tarot cards. As their stories interlink and overlap, a fantastic, surreal and chaotic history of the human quest for meaning unfolds.

BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Translated by William Weaver