Elena Varvello se ve své tvorbě zabývá složitými vztahy a temnými zákoutími lidské psychiky. Její styl se vyznačuje syrovou upřímností a pronikavým vhledem do motivací postav. Prostřednictvím svých příběhů zkoumá témata viny, touhy a hledání identity v moderním světě. Její próza čtenáře vtáhne do napínavého děje a nutí k zamyšlení nad vlastním životem.
'Move over Ferrante, there's a new Elena in town' Independent. 'A beauty of a novel in which the pain and alienation of a teenage boy goes unnoticed until it is too late to halt its gripping conclusion' Kate Mayfield.
'I knew nothing, back then, of the ways in which love can show itself, of the force with which it can push us into a corner and take our breath away' 1978. Ponte, a small community in Northern Italy: peaceful woods, discarded rubbish, a closed-down factory. An unbearably hot summer like many others, wilted flowers and trips to the waterfalls. Elia Furenti is sixteen, living in a secluded house with his parents, a life so unremarkable that even its moderate unhappiness has been accepted as normal. That is until the day the beautiful, damaged Anna returns to Ponte and firmly propels Elia to the edge of adulthood. But then everything starts to unravel. Elia's father, Ettore, is let go from his job and loses himself in the darkest corners of his mind, spending day after day plotting his revenge. A young boy is murdered, shaking the small community to its core. And a girl climbs into a van and vanishes in the deep, dark woods...