   Me and You, By Niccolò Ammaniti   Teenager Lorenzo Cuni lives
with his energetic parents in a comfortable home in central
Rome. But ever since toddlerhood he has been a quiet, self-
reliant child.  One day, in an effort to please his anxious
mother, Lorenzo pretends to join classmates on a skiing trip,
but takes up residence in a cellar stocked with tinned tuna and
Marvel comics. Not long into his stay, his drug-addicted half-
sister, Olivia, joins him there.  Translated by Kylee Doust,
Ammaniti's sparely written novel gets inside the head of a
world-weary boy. The novel's ending comes as a horrible shock.