Without Blood

In Alessandro Baricco's brief, penetrating morality tale, Without Blood (trans. from the Italian by Ann Goldstein), Nina, a little girl, witnesses the murder of her doctor father by men who accuse him of hideous war crimes. As an old woman, Nina hunts down the killers, asking a curious favor of the last of them, an elderly lottery card vendor. Ending his story with a poignant twist, Baricco (author of the international bestseller Silk) reflects movingly on the nature of war and brutality.