Description

A New York Times and a LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2026

“A warm novel about connection, loss and imagining place.”-Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times

“Italian literature has been waiting years for a novel like this.”-Vincenzo Latronico, author of Perfection

Mina is thirty years old and leads a life in London built with great care but little spontaneity. One evening she receives a phone call from her mother. Her father is dead.

After returning home for the funeral, Mina ends up staying. Home is a small seaside town, where her Moroccan father ran a beach bar frequented mostly by migrants; a place of refuge for those who felt unwelcome in this new land.

It’s here, in a place where people appear like ghosts who pass and vanish, that Mina connects with her family and rediscovers memories of her father, that mythical, elusive migrant with a mysterious past. Surrounded by the sea, Mina will find that roots are a fleeting dream-a desire to find a common history that will allow her to forget, at least at times, the wounds of abandonment.

WINNER of the Citta di Lugnano Debut Novel Prize

WINNER of the Mastercard Debut Novel Prize

WINNER of the Bancarella Select Prize

Publisher Review

“Early comparisons to Elena Ferrante and Sally Rooney have certainly not hurt the prospects of this debut novel, which centers on the rocky grieving process of a 30-year-old Italian Moroccan woman who returns home from London to the Calabrian coast to face her emotional inheritance after the death of her semi-estranged father.” * New York Times, A Most Anticipated Book of 2026 * “Anechoum nails literary London and its politely ignored trust fund economy with the precision only an outsider can; Calabria and Morocco receive the same emotional, social and cultural rigour. For all its sharp detail, this is ultimately a warm novel about connection, loss and imagining place.” * Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times * “An honest, vulnerable story of home, family, and what it means to find your place in the world.” * LitHub, A Most Anticipated Book of 2026 * “Incandescent.” * Rolling Stone (Italy) * “Tangerinn carefully addresses burning issues of double identity, uprooting, and religious conflict.” * La Repubblica * “One of the novel’s most successful aspects is Anechoum’s ability to depict emotional bonds through evocative, intimate, and at times poignant details.” * Mangrovia * “A novel where one feels the weight of absence, but also the possibility of reinventing oneself.” * Il Libraio * “Tangerinn is a contemporary family saga, imbued with delicate irony and tremendous psychological and political acumen. Italian literature has been waiting years for a novel like this.” * Vincenzo Latronico, author of Perfection * “An audaciously delicate tale of transnational resilience, Tangerinn delivers an utterly heart-wrenching story of love and loss across space and time. Under crushing levels of grief, avoidance, and masquerading, Mina moves us through a cinematic journey in epic confrontation of the economic and moral costs of ambition, like a tough-love shaking by the shoulders. Reading Anechoum is a balm for many of us generationally restless souls, very much attached to our mobility and independence, while still searching for peace and belonging.” * Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming * “This remarkable, brilliantly observant story digs deep into questions of home, identity and belonging with a confidence of prose that showcases Emanuela Anechoum as a writer of enormous talent. A must-read.” * Zoe Apostolides, author of The Homecoming * “This novel is a welcome rejoinder to prevailing ideas about migration […] Tangerinn is the kind of story I hope to encounter more often. In a novel where almost every character is a migrant, changing countries is practically a fact of life. It sounds like being human.” * The New York Times *