"In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the
morning." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
A coming-of-age novel--a heady union of Before Sunrise and
Beautiful Ruins--about a father and his teenage son who are forced to
spend two sleepless nights exploring the city of Marseilles, a journey
of unexpected adventure and profound discovery that helps them come to
truly know each other.
Antonio is eighteen years old and on the cusp of adulthood. His father,
a brilliant mathematician, hasn't played a large part in his life since
divorcing Antonio's mother but when Antonio is diagnosed with epilepsy,
they travel to Marseille to visit a doctor who may hold the hope for an
effective treatment. It is there, in a foreign city, under strained
circumstances, that they will get to know each other and connect for the
first time.
A beautiful, gritty, and charming port city where French old-world charm
meets modern bohemia, father and son stroll the streets sharing strained
small talk. But as the hours pass and day gives way to night, the two
find themselves caught in a series of caffeine-imbued adventures
involving unexpected people (and unforeseen trysts) that connect father
and son for the first time. As the two discuss poetry, family, sex,
math, death, and dreams, their experience becomes a mesmerizing 48-hour
microcosm of a lifetime relationship. Both learn much about illusions
and regret, about talent and redemption, and, most of all, about love.
Elegant, warm, and tender, set against the vivid backdrop of 1980s
Marseille and its beautiful calanques--a series of cliffs and bays on
the city's outskirts--Three O'Clock in the Morning is a bewitching
coming-of-age story imbued with nostalgia and a revelatory exploration
of time and fate, youth and adulthood.
Translated from the Italian by Howard Curtis
