Synopsis

“Every year, a thousand people around the world lose their lives to lightning. I'm not one of them.” Thus begins the story of Anna, who grows up with her father in her grandmother's country house. She has one brother, an absent mother, a failed father, and a grandmother who is an artist and a compulsive gambler, with a passion for reptiles and a tarantula she named Goliath. Anna convinces herself that surviving a lightning strike means being different and destined for great things. Yet at twenty-four, she hasn't found a direction and feels out of place everywhere. The story changes when her grandmother dies suddenly, and Anna and her father Vincenzo must confront a situation that will force them to overcome their anxieties and fears. Through a difficult reality, populated by elusive humanity, influencers, and unscrupulous characters, in a ruthless Milan. In this book, contradictions and lies become the fresco of a young and unresolved world, incapable of taking responsibility for itself. Yet a strange wisdom makes Anna a remarkably solid character. "Not Out of Malice" is the debut of a fierce and ironic writer, capable of telling a story as grotesque as it is real. A novel that strikes like a bolt of lightning. The story of a generation destined to waste opportunities before finding itself, and of adults no longer capable of protecting and guiding others. In this book, youth and literary wisdom end up traveling in the same direction. Beatrice Benicchi reveals herself as an original talent, unconventional, far removed from stereotypes and manners.