Lucien (24) spent his youth between dusty books, self made newspapers and old fashioned typewriters, and he works now, as expected, at a local newspaper. He becomes a real loner who hides behind reassuring routines. As this way of life starts to weigh down on him, he hears about an Australian boy who displays his life for sale on eBay, and he asks Filippo Magi, an illustrator he met by coincidence, if he wants to exchange lives with him. Lucien introduces his ‘surrogate’ at work, with family, friends… Even with Miss F., a girl he fancies since years. As soon as Lucien has shown his friend the ropes, he leaves for Milan, where he gets Filippo’s job instead. Filippo impulsively and convincingly throws himself into his new life. The story of the exchange takes a whole new turn when Lucien hears that Miss F. is pregnant by his stand-in. Filippo now really runs off with the life Lucien dreamt of. He starts to wonder if he really appreciated the little things in his old life: lazy Sunday mornings, a rare snow shower, a love story that never started. And the woman who brought him into the world, whom he never had the chance to ask about the night he was born.

Tell me about the night I was born is a compelling novel that raises quite a few existential questions and even gives the beginning of an answer. Prizewinning author Di Paolo touches upon some very relevant literature without being intellectualistic. Sergio Pent in La Stampa-Tuttolibri: “… almost a repertory by Truffaut, where emotions rain from the pages, drop by drop, in an outstanding narrative style”.