Michela Morellato

A Talent for Trouble Michela Morellato

'I began to view the world, not as a safe space that liberated imagination and contentment, but as a hazardous, toxic, risky, no-go area, where every act and decision came with hidden dangers. To protect myself from a dangerous world, I had to become more dangerous.' A Talent for Trouble is an energetic novel that sparkles with inspiration, irony and, above all, a fierce passion. In this post-modern biography, we meet and live through Eva; a radiant and rebellious dreamer; a provocative, unrelenting personality; with a magnetic charm, and an unquenchable thirst for curiosity, truth and dignity, in a wild world. We first encounter the young Eva as she struggles to adapt to life after losing everything, following her father's bankruptcy. Not long after leaving school, Eva's curiosity leads her to a dangerous liaison with a politician, who offers Eva the universe in exchange for her forbidden fruit. Eva's world, as she discovers, soon becomes a primal minefield of predators. It's a world of injustice, revenge and the abuse of power, where it must be ferociously fought with dignity, love and truth. As her dreams and security threaten to collapse around her, Eva vows to take control of her destiny. She is constantly forced to reinvent herself and explore her fantasies inside this labyrinthine, upside down, carnivalesque world of intrigue, shimmering, subversive discotheques, escort services, scandals, corruption and life as a devoted army wife. From her high school pranks to her adventures with controversial acquaintances and explosive love affairs, Eva's life is a raw, emotional display of courage in a post-truth society, where she finds herself at war with cover ups, deceptions and institutional hypocrisy. Beneath the hard exterior of the bold language, there's a precious and vulnerable side to the narrator, as explored during the climactic scenes with The General; which raises philosophical questions about honor, human nature, welfare, ethics and duplicity. Amid these assaults, Eva's character, self-belief and spiritual relationship to God remain strong. We are all Eva.