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Nymph
Published 2 June 2026
ISBN 9781923059757
Format EBook
Extent 224pp

Nymph

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
9 June 2026
EBook
2 June 2026
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A tale of ephemeral love set over two transformative summers at a hotel in the northern Italian countryside.

Ten-year-old Leo spends her mornings tidying the rooms of her nonna’s time-worn Italian hotel, quietly accumulating the junk and treasures left behind by guests—a pearl earring, a lock of hair. Her nights are suffused with her father’s liquor-spun tales of his childhood, mingled with stories of Greek heroes of old.

Years later, over another hot, endless Italian summer, the hotel is one of the only things in Leo’s life that has remained constant. An accident has knocked her family sideways; her brother Max is distant, and Nonna has grown frail. But then she meets Dolores, a young American woman who sets something alight in Leo that she didn’t know existed.

Heat-soaked, sensual and steeped in an exquisite longing, Nymph traverses the extraordinary pains, soaring pleasures and many metamorphoses it takes to finally grow up.

'Nymph is soft and sweet and hot and pungent and textured and strange and lovely...a perfect summer read...I’ll be thinking about it for a very long time.’ Literary Hub

‘A sweet, slow-burn story of self-discovery and community that reminded me why coming-of-age stories are so compelling.’ Readings

‘Nuanced, wise…this sensual, yearning novel of personal tragedy and first love in the Northern Italian countryside will transport readers of all ages.’ Shelf Awareness

'Polished, economic, swift, smart, spiritual...a transcendent work of intelligence.' Heidi Julavits, author of Directions to Myself
Published 2 June 2026
ISBN 9781923059757
Format EBook
Extent 224pp

About the author

Sofia Montrone

Sofia Montrone is a writer based in New York. She teaches at Columbia University, where she earned her MFA. Her short fiction and criticism have appeared in the Columbia Review, Quarto, and Adroit. Nymph is her debut novel.
portrait photo of Sofia Montrone

Praise for Nymph

‘The perfect summer read. Nymph is a novel for those who love a poignant coming-of-age narrative that grapples with both the grief and joys that exist within the mundanity of everyday life.’

Skinny, UK

'Montrone’s lyrical prose is masterfully precise. Nymph is a dazzling debut that captures the dizzying intensity of first love.'

Adam Wilson, author of Sensation Machines

‘An excellent book…rich, beautifully written.’

Triple R

'A sensual queer Bildungsroman. With shades of Call Me By Your Name, this portrait of self-discovery is drawn with vivid authenticity and attention to emotional detail.'

Age

‘Youthful, sincere, alluring, multi-layered.’

New Zealand Listener

'This shimmering gem of a novel invites you to re-experience that gut-punch feeling of youthful summer romance...Nymph is a truly impressive debut.'

Anelise Chen, author of Clam Down

‘Achingly beautiful...Sofia Montrone wields her poetic prose so well.’

Observer (US)

‘Complex family dynamics keep the pages turning…Montrone asks what happens to a family that would rather wipe snot from a stranger’s headboard than clean their own dirty laundry.’

LA weekly times

'Prose as lovely, fleeting, subtle, and shocking as growing up ever is.'

Shelf Awareness

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