On the shores of the Mediterranean, exhausted from an afternoon of surfing, Pietro Paladini is shaken out of his stupor by a distant noise. “Over there!”he cries to his brother, Carlo, sunning beside him. “Over there!”So begins the adventure that will tear a hole in Pietro’s life. For while he and hisbrother struggle to save two drowning swimmers, a tragedy is unfolding down theroad at his summer cottage. Instead of coming home to a hero’s welcome, Pietrois greeted by the flashing lights of an ambulance, the wide-eyed stare of his youngdaughter, Claudia, and the terrible news that his fiancée, Lara, is dead. Life must go on. Or does it? Pietro, a true iconoclast, has to find his own way.When he drops Claudia off for the first day of school, he decides to wait outsidefor her all day, and then every day. To protect her. To protect himself. To wait forthe heavy fist of grief to strike. But as the days and weeks go by, the small parkinglot in front of the school becomes his refuge from the world as well as the placewhere family and colleagues come to relieve their own suffering—among them, thewoman he rescued from the waves. And Pietro plunges deeper into the depths ofhis life before seeing the simple truth before his eyes. Sandro Veronesi makes art of every detail, creating a mosaic of humor, hope, profound insight, and emotional resonance. Quiet Chaos is an unprecedented portrayalof a life set adrift by death.