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The Castle of Crossed Destinies

By Italo Calvino
Series: Brief Encounters
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Brief Description
Experience a BRIEF ENCOUNTER like no other, with Italo Calvino, the master of post-war experimental fiction, and his mind-bendingly brilliant novella about a travelling band of Tarot readers. A magical, mystical novella about the art and power of storytelling, this is Italo Calvino's miniature masterpiece. A... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2400
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Experience a BRIEF ENCOUNTER like no other, with Italo Calvino, the master of post-war experimental fiction, and his mind-bendingly brilliant novella about a travelling band of Tarot readers.

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.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529980837

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 July 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Contributors:

  • Translated by William Weaver

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 11.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 122g

Pages: 144

Collections

Classic Fiction Classic General Fiction Fiction General Fiction Health & Wellness Italo Calvino Literary Fiction Penguin Books Pre-order Books Pre-order General Fiction Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date Self-Help & Personal Development Series: Brief Encounters

About the Author

Italo Calvino (1923-1985) is regarded as one of the most influential and imaginative writers of the post-war twentieth century. Best-known for his genre-bending, experimental fictions Invisible Cities and If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Calvino forged a style that was predicated on the playful and surreal aspects of the literary imagination.

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