Paolo Bacigalupi at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes PAOLO BACIGALUPI—Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of The Water Knife and The Windup Girl—for a discussion of his new novel Navola. He will be joined in conversation by KELLY LINK—author of Get in Trouble, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

About Navola

"You must be as sharp as a stilettotore’s dagger and as subtle as a fish beneath the waters. This is what it is to be Navolese, this is what it is to be di Regulai."

In Navola, a bustling city-state dominated by a handful of influential families, business is power, and power is everything. For generations, the di Regulai family—merchant bankers with a vast empire—has nurtured tendrils that stretch to the farthest reaches of the known world. And though they claim not to be political, their staggering wealth has bought cities and toppled kingdoms. Soon, Davico di Regulai will be expected to take the reins of power from his father and demonstrate his mastery of the games of Navolese diplomacy: knowing who to trust and who to doubt, and how to read what lies hidden behind a smile. But in Navola, strange and ancient undercurrents lurk behind the gilt and grandeur—like the fossilized dragon eye in the family’s possession, a potent symbol of their raw power and a talisman that seems to be summoning Davico to act.

As tensions rise and the events unfold, Davico will be tested to his limits. His fate depends on the eldritch dragon relic and on what lies buried in the heart of his adopted sister, Celia di Balcosi, whose own family was destroyed by Nalova’s twisted politics. With echoes of Renaissance Italy, The Godfather, and Game of Thrones, Navola is a stunning feat of world-building and a mesmerizing depiction of drive and will.

Praise for Navola

"Steeped in poison, betrayal, and debauchery, reading Navola is like slipping into a luxurious bath full of blood." —Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Medici Florence meets Tony Soprano’s New Jersey—with a delicious dash of high fantasy and a heavy splattering of blood. Navola is a grand feat of imagination by a storyteller at the peak of his powers.” —Dan Jones, New York Times best-selling author of Essex Dogs

“Bacigalupi dazzles in this addictive account of the rivalries between powerful families in a brilliantly rendered fantastical world inspired by 15th-century Florence . . . Admirers of Game of Thrones and Dorothy Dunnett’s House of Niccolò series will be riveted." —Publishers Weekly, starred

“Bacigalupi’s new genre-bending fantasy is a coming-of-age tale set in a mob-like family, full of intrigue, betrayal, and the lust for power, status, and money. For readers who enjoy fantasy full of political and family intrigue, such as A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, and for those who like coming-of-age stories focusing on a young man’s battles, such as The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.” —Library Journal

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.