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Nymph
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25 copies available
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Call Me By Your Name meets Elena Ferrante in this debut coming-of-age novel about a young girl who spends summers working at her family’s timeworn Italian agriturismo, the tragedy that rends her life into “before” and “after,” and her romance with an American girl, which has unexpected consequences
To ten-year-old Leo, life is a collection. She spends her mornings tidying the rooms of her Nonna Tina’s timeworn Italian agriturismo, carefully accumulating the curious bits of left-behind detritus from guests—a pearl earring, a lock of hair. Her nights are suffused with gathering the stories that flow from her father’s lips—liquor-spun tales of Odysseus and the Trojans in secret battle. But when an accident rips the gentle membrane of Leo’s childhood, she is left vulnerable to the pains and pleasures of growing up.
Years later, in a sultry summer not unlike the many that came before, the agriturismo is the only thing that remains the same. Nonna Tina has grown older, Leo’s brother Max is intractable and mercurial, and the curiosity Leo so loved to feed as a child has turned into something more confusing. When she meets Dolores, an American girl made brilliant by Leo’s perception of her, she can’t help but gather all the experiences first love promises, while shedding parts of the past she no longer fits into.
Embroidering the atmospheric yearning of Call Me By Your Name with the precise, elevated prose of Elena Ferrante, Sofia Montrone’s jaw-dropping debut revels in the exuberant highs and awkward lows of girlhood and captures the universal experiences of trying to hold on to what is elusive, to deny what cannot be faced, and to say what cannot be said.
To ten-year-old Leo, life is a collection. She spends her mornings tidying the rooms of her Nonna Tina’s timeworn Italian agriturismo, carefully accumulating the curious bits of left-behind detritus from guests—a pearl earring, a lock of hair. Her nights are suffused with gathering the stories that flow from her father’s lips—liquor-spun tales of Odysseus and the Trojans in secret battle. But when an accident rips the gentle membrane of Leo’s childhood, she is left vulnerable to the pains and pleasures of growing up.
Years later, in a sultry summer not unlike the many that came before, the agriturismo is the only thing that remains the same. Nonna Tina has grown older, Leo’s brother Max is intractable and mercurial, and the curiosity Leo so loved to feed as a child has turned into something more confusing. When she meets Dolores, an American girl made brilliant by Leo’s perception of her, she can’t help but gather all the experiences first love promises, while shedding parts of the past she no longer fits into.
Embroidering the atmospheric yearning of Call Me By Your Name with the precise, elevated prose of Elena Ferrante, Sofia Montrone’s jaw-dropping debut revels in the exuberant highs and awkward lows of girlhood and captures the universal experiences of trying to hold on to what is elusive, to deny what cannot be faced, and to say what cannot be said.
256 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication June 9, 2026
6925 people want to read
About the author
Sofia Montrone
2 books9 followersSofia Montrone is a writer based in New York. Her debut novel Nymph is forthcoming from Avid Reader Press (US) and Canongate (UK). She teaches at Columbia University, where she earned her MFA.
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March 4, 2026Atmospheric yearning of Call Me By You Name which highlights the highs and lows of girlhood and coming-of-age.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Avid Reader Press and the author, Sofia Montrone for an early copy!
Publication date: June 9, 2026
Many thanks to NetGalley, Avid Reader Press and the author, Sofia Montrone for an early copy!
Publication date: June 9, 2026
January 5, 2026
Poetically written, emotional & beautiful coming of age story. Leo pulled at my heart, she was just such an easy character to love. The pacing dragged at times but overall a memorable story that absolutely pulled at my heartstrings.
Big thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for allowing me to enjoy this.
Big thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for allowing me to enjoy this.
February 2, 2026
a sun-soaked sapphic romance set over the course of two sweltering Italian summers. Leo has spent her childhood summers at her family’s hotel, cleaning rooms after checkouts and collecting treasures left behind by guests. whilst her mother is unwell, spending many days at a time in bed, she looks up to her often distant and confusing father, revelling in his attentions and hanging on his every word as he lavishes her with epic tales of Greek heroes.
fast forward nearly a decade, Leo is still tending to the hotel rooms, whilst her beloved Nonna becomes older and more frail, and the hotel shows its own signs of age. enter: Dolores, an American girl with a shaved head who has come to set Leo alight, in more ways than one.
this book oozes summer and sticky heat and sweat - it moves at a languid, almost sleepy pace, allowing us time and space to fall in love with Leo, Dolores and sun-drenched Italian summers. Montrone perfectly captures the awkward parts of girlhood; growing up and noticing changes happening in every part of you.
thank you, Canongate, for the early copy of this gorgeous debut.
fast forward nearly a decade, Leo is still tending to the hotel rooms, whilst her beloved Nonna becomes older and more frail, and the hotel shows its own signs of age. enter: Dolores, an American girl with a shaved head who has come to set Leo alight, in more ways than one.
this book oozes summer and sticky heat and sweat - it moves at a languid, almost sleepy pace, allowing us time and space to fall in love with Leo, Dolores and sun-drenched Italian summers. Montrone perfectly captures the awkward parts of girlhood; growing up and noticing changes happening in every part of you.
thank you, Canongate, for the early copy of this gorgeous debut.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This book was beautifully written (and has such a stunning cover!), and Italian summers with sapphic love and stories were lovely and interesting topics to explore, but I just felt like it was missing something.
February 10, 2026
Nymph follows an American girl named Leo as she comes of age against the idyllic backdrop of the Italian countryside in the way of Elio Perlman and Elena Greco.
Leo spends her summer breaks helping out at her family’s agriturismo in Italy. For her, summers are measured in World Cups, loaves of bread, poker games, lost earrings, and her father’s Homeric wisdom. These things withstand the test of time and tether her to existence apart from her home in New York City. But while days lengthen in the summer season, the passage of time refuses to slow. Over the course of two pivotal summers, eight years apart, Leo bears witness to the complex intricacies of familial and romantic love and the ways it can be both given and taken away.
Reading this book stirred a nostalgic ache in my chest. Sophia Montrone takes a reverent, timeless, and naturalistic approach to memorializing adolescence in the 2010s. She presents readers with a ‘modern’ family, thoughtfully woven together and layered with detail like a tapestry. Such a stunning debut novel!
Thank you to Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review :)
Leo spends her summer breaks helping out at her family’s agriturismo in Italy. For her, summers are measured in World Cups, loaves of bread, poker games, lost earrings, and her father’s Homeric wisdom. These things withstand the test of time and tether her to existence apart from her home in New York City. But while days lengthen in the summer season, the passage of time refuses to slow. Over the course of two pivotal summers, eight years apart, Leo bears witness to the complex intricacies of familial and romantic love and the ways it can be both given and taken away.
Reading this book stirred a nostalgic ache in my chest. Sophia Montrone takes a reverent, timeless, and naturalistic approach to memorializing adolescence in the 2010s. She presents readers with a ‘modern’ family, thoughtfully woven together and layered with detail like a tapestry. Such a stunning debut novel!
Thank you to Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review :)
February 11, 2026
I was enthralled by this book. The setting was deeply evocative- I loved the Italian immersion; both the good and the bad. The characters had a complexity to them that was nuanced and well rounded. The story was emotionally compelling and I enjoyed the Iliad insertions as a storytelling device. I found this entire book to be unlike anything I have read recently. I have been constantly thinking about it since I finished and I believe it will continue to stick with me. The way Sofia Montrone portrayed the feelings of youth into young adulthood and the way we view or family through different eyes at different stages was apt and well executed. This was overall an excellent novel and had a very clear and unique perspective that I appreciated. Thank you Avid Reader for this ARC! Always topnotch.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Some grief doesn’t arrive as a storm, but as stillness — the quiet feeling that time has stopped moving forward.
This book unexpectedly had me floored. What I anticipated being a high-energy, coming of age sapphic palate cleanser quickly revealed itself as a charged and tender story about time, identity and the fragile process of shedding the self grief leaves behind.
Set in rural Lombardy, it follows a small family running an agriturismo (didn’t know what this was but now will be finding one and going immediately), with a focus on the inner world of its narrator, Leo, whose life becomes shaped by accumulative grief. In the opening section, we meet Leo in her youth as a 10 year old girl. She is curious, excitable, the kind of child who, similarly to me, notices everything. She collects objects left behind by guests — forgotten trinkets, small traces of people who have passed through — keeping them as little monuments to who they once were. In a place where strangers constantly arrive and depart, these objects become her way of holding time still.
Her father occupies the centre of this early world. He tells stories about Odysseus, the wandering hero whose long journey home seems at first like a playful bedtime mythology. But gradually the stories begin to echo something closer to his own life. Like Odysseus, he becomes a man drifting through memory and time — though in his case the wandering comes through alcoholism and dementia rather than adventure.
What I found especially powerful is that the novel never lays this reality out plainly. Instead, it lets the truth surface slowly through small, almost incidental details. We notice the medication he takes — gabapentin — and realise what it might imply. We see him playing memory games with his children so that he doesn’t start forgetting. The novel trusts the reader to connect these moments, allowing the emotional weight of them to gather quietly rather than announcing itself outright. The physical landscape, sun-soaked and dripping with beauty speaks for itself.
After an eight-year time jump, the story shifts with the arrival of Dolores, an American guest who feels completely unlike anyone Leo has encountered before. Usually I would hate this as a narrative device, as I prefer to experience characters more linearly, but credit where credit is due as Montrone executes this phenomenally. It’s intentional, where Dolores is expressive, fluid, constantly experimenting with who she might be and crucially the opposite to Leo. Through her character, we learn more about the missing years of Leo, who has evidently spent it trying to “collapse time,” remaining suspended in the moment of her father’s death rather than moving beyond it.
The agriturismo itself makes this contrast even more poignant. It is a place defined by movement — people arriving, staying briefly, then continuing on with their lives. Leo has spent her childhood observing this flow, cataloguing the lives of strangers through the objects they leave behind. But while everyone else passes through, she remains rooted there, watching time move around her rather than with her. Dolores disrupts that stillness. She begins to open Leo to the possibility that identity is not fixed, that people are allowed to change.
She also gives Leo the titular name — nymph. At first it sounds almost mythic, suggesting something eternal and rooted in nature. Interesting how this is how people see Leo, and yet she gives the word entirely new meaning: a baby grasshopper. This version of the nymph must shed its skin in order to grow. The metaphor becomes quietly haunting as the novel unfolds. Leo’s grief has done the opposite of growth and I had to go back to experience moments of the grasshopper again — it has preserved her inside an earlier version of herself. Moving forward means doing something far more vulnerable: letting that old self fall away.
The prose reflects this emotional journey beautifully. The language feels soft and attentive, grounded in the rhythms of the agriturismo itself. Everything we see is filtered through Leo’s gaze — first with the bright curiosity of childhood, later with a more complicated awareness of time, loss, and the small forms of decay that accompany growing older.
By the end, the novel feels less like a dramatic narrative and more like a life quietly unfolding. What stayed with me most was its gentle suggestion that grief can freeze us in place, convincing us we will never become someone else. But becoming — like the nymph shedding its skin — is often a slow and fragile process, one that requires a surprising amount of tenderness toward the person we used to be.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a poignant summer read - that unexpectedly, unabashedly, and unequivocally has changed my perspective on grief, time & becoming.
This book unexpectedly had me floored. What I anticipated being a high-energy, coming of age sapphic palate cleanser quickly revealed itself as a charged and tender story about time, identity and the fragile process of shedding the self grief leaves behind.
Set in rural Lombardy, it follows a small family running an agriturismo (didn’t know what this was but now will be finding one and going immediately), with a focus on the inner world of its narrator, Leo, whose life becomes shaped by accumulative grief. In the opening section, we meet Leo in her youth as a 10 year old girl. She is curious, excitable, the kind of child who, similarly to me, notices everything. She collects objects left behind by guests — forgotten trinkets, small traces of people who have passed through — keeping them as little monuments to who they once were. In a place where strangers constantly arrive and depart, these objects become her way of holding time still.
Her father occupies the centre of this early world. He tells stories about Odysseus, the wandering hero whose long journey home seems at first like a playful bedtime mythology. But gradually the stories begin to echo something closer to his own life. Like Odysseus, he becomes a man drifting through memory and time — though in his case the wandering comes through alcoholism and dementia rather than adventure.
What I found especially powerful is that the novel never lays this reality out plainly. Instead, it lets the truth surface slowly through small, almost incidental details. We notice the medication he takes — gabapentin — and realise what it might imply. We see him playing memory games with his children so that he doesn’t start forgetting. The novel trusts the reader to connect these moments, allowing the emotional weight of them to gather quietly rather than announcing itself outright. The physical landscape, sun-soaked and dripping with beauty speaks for itself.
After an eight-year time jump, the story shifts with the arrival of Dolores, an American guest who feels completely unlike anyone Leo has encountered before. Usually I would hate this as a narrative device, as I prefer to experience characters more linearly, but credit where credit is due as Montrone executes this phenomenally. It’s intentional, where Dolores is expressive, fluid, constantly experimenting with who she might be and crucially the opposite to Leo. Through her character, we learn more about the missing years of Leo, who has evidently spent it trying to “collapse time,” remaining suspended in the moment of her father’s death rather than moving beyond it.
The agriturismo itself makes this contrast even more poignant. It is a place defined by movement — people arriving, staying briefly, then continuing on with their lives. Leo has spent her childhood observing this flow, cataloguing the lives of strangers through the objects they leave behind. But while everyone else passes through, she remains rooted there, watching time move around her rather than with her. Dolores disrupts that stillness. She begins to open Leo to the possibility that identity is not fixed, that people are allowed to change.
She also gives Leo the titular name — nymph. At first it sounds almost mythic, suggesting something eternal and rooted in nature. Interesting how this is how people see Leo, and yet she gives the word entirely new meaning: a baby grasshopper. This version of the nymph must shed its skin in order to grow. The metaphor becomes quietly haunting as the novel unfolds. Leo’s grief has done the opposite of growth and I had to go back to experience moments of the grasshopper again — it has preserved her inside an earlier version of herself. Moving forward means doing something far more vulnerable: letting that old self fall away.
The prose reflects this emotional journey beautifully. The language feels soft and attentive, grounded in the rhythms of the agriturismo itself. Everything we see is filtered through Leo’s gaze — first with the bright curiosity of childhood, later with a more complicated awareness of time, loss, and the small forms of decay that accompany growing older.
By the end, the novel feels less like a dramatic narrative and more like a life quietly unfolding. What stayed with me most was its gentle suggestion that grief can freeze us in place, convincing us we will never become someone else. But becoming — like the nymph shedding its skin — is often a slow and fragile process, one that requires a surprising amount of tenderness toward the person we used to be.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a poignant summer read - that unexpectedly, unabashedly, and unequivocally has changed my perspective on grief, time & becoming.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Not expected - in the best way. I have found the best summer read for all my friends for 2026. Wanna go to Italy but can’t afford it at the moment? Look no further — just read this book and you’ll feel right at home. There’s a scene early on where the children play the game “dead corpse,” and I had to pause because I played that same game with my cousins growing up. Why is that such a universal childhood ritual? That small detail immediately grounded me. From the first chapters, I wasn’t just reading—I felt like I was slipping back into my own childhood. The opening is so visual, so vibrant, that it captures the naivety and beauty of young life in a way that feels almost hypnotic.
What completely obsessed me, though, was the setting. The backdrop of Northern Italy—especially behind the scenes of the family hotel—felt lush, sun-drenched, and alive. I haven’t read many authors who ooze Italian culture and atmosphere the way Sofa Montrone does here. Every place this book visits feels tangible. You can see it, taste it, breathe it. The scenery isn’t just described; it’s inhabited. I was stupidly obsessed with the hotel life within the entire book and I still want more.
This is such a splendid coming-of-age story, but what makes it stand out is the dry humor threaded so perfectly through each chapter. That subtle wit lands at just the right moment, rewarding careful readers who don’t want to miss a single detail. It’s playful and sharp in equal measure. And somehow, even when the story wanders through longing and confusion, there’s always something unfolding—some emotional shift, some revelation. I had such a hard time putting it down because I constantly wanted to see what would transpire next.
The descriptions of heat, landscape, bodies, memory—it all feels sun-soaked and sensual, steeped in longing. The story moves through the exquisite ache and soaring pleasures of growing up, tracing the many small metamorphoses that shape a life. It feels both deeply emotional and incredibly thoughtful. I am not sure an author has done this for me yet. The way she marries sensory language in each crack and corner of this book is something I am always longing for.
I was especially taken with the Greek myths her father tells her and the way those stories echo through her own life. Whether the parallels are drawn by the narrator or simply felt by her, that interweaving of myth and memory adds such an intriguing layer. It gives the novel a timeless, almost fated quality.
Montrone moves with confident grace between two lush terrains: the mountains of Northern Italy and the inner world of her young protagonist. Even when the emotional landscape is wild and untamed, her prose remains precise and lyrical. The intensity of first love, the confusion of identity, the heat of adolescence—it’s all captured with dizzying clarity.
This book uniquely engages all five senses. That’s what makes it addictive for me. It’s a novel of the mind and of the body—a work that feels both intellectually sharp and deeply sensual. A dazzling debut that I will be telling every person to pick up this summer - I couldn’t get enough.
What completely obsessed me, though, was the setting. The backdrop of Northern Italy—especially behind the scenes of the family hotel—felt lush, sun-drenched, and alive. I haven’t read many authors who ooze Italian culture and atmosphere the way Sofa Montrone does here. Every place this book visits feels tangible. You can see it, taste it, breathe it. The scenery isn’t just described; it’s inhabited. I was stupidly obsessed with the hotel life within the entire book and I still want more.
This is such a splendid coming-of-age story, but what makes it stand out is the dry humor threaded so perfectly through each chapter. That subtle wit lands at just the right moment, rewarding careful readers who don’t want to miss a single detail. It’s playful and sharp in equal measure. And somehow, even when the story wanders through longing and confusion, there’s always something unfolding—some emotional shift, some revelation. I had such a hard time putting it down because I constantly wanted to see what would transpire next.
The descriptions of heat, landscape, bodies, memory—it all feels sun-soaked and sensual, steeped in longing. The story moves through the exquisite ache and soaring pleasures of growing up, tracing the many small metamorphoses that shape a life. It feels both deeply emotional and incredibly thoughtful. I am not sure an author has done this for me yet. The way she marries sensory language in each crack and corner of this book is something I am always longing for.
I was especially taken with the Greek myths her father tells her and the way those stories echo through her own life. Whether the parallels are drawn by the narrator or simply felt by her, that interweaving of myth and memory adds such an intriguing layer. It gives the novel a timeless, almost fated quality.
Montrone moves with confident grace between two lush terrains: the mountains of Northern Italy and the inner world of her young protagonist. Even when the emotional landscape is wild and untamed, her prose remains precise and lyrical. The intensity of first love, the confusion of identity, the heat of adolescence—it’s all captured with dizzying clarity.
This book uniquely engages all five senses. That’s what makes it addictive for me. It’s a novel of the mind and of the body—a work that feels both intellectually sharp and deeply sensual. A dazzling debut that I will be telling every person to pick up this summer - I couldn’t get enough.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to #NetGalley #AvidReaderPress & Simon & Schuster for the ARC of this gorgeous debut by Sofia Montrone. You've gifted me a new author to follow closely for future releases. This novel is one for the senses -- the setting is tangible (the smells, the sights, the FEELS - both inner and outer), and the experiences.
Montrone holds nothing back finding beauty and treasure throughout her family-owned Italian agriturismo where she has spent summers of her life growing up in every way. The hotel is, itself, a character that has gone through many transformations and ages beautifully and effectively along with the characters in the novel. There are mysteries and secrets in the items (even the trash) left behind by guests and the narrator, Leo's (Leonora's), worldview and vision is that of an explorer/detective or, as readers know, a WRITER. She accompanies her very proud and seasoned Nonna Tina on the day-to-day mission of cleaning hotel rooms and we are introduced to her younger brother, Max, and her flawed parents who all change in many ways throughout the course of the novel.
I found this book brilliant in its efficient and effective use of two parts to inform the evolution of these lives (for better and worse) as well as Leo's coming of age and the decline of other characters. It is sexy, wise, and beautifully penned.
Leo's Dad begins as a larger-than-life storyteller and life of the party but there is evidence that more is there than we see. Conversely, Leo's Mom is a self-contained quiet woman prone to sickliness who spends much of her time behind closed doors (seemingly in various states of illness and/or disability). No spoilers here but these dynamics do change as the novel progresses.
Leo's Dad is a professor and obviously very well-learned with a self-proclaimed "degree" of knowing "everything" -- he tests his children so that he can retain all of his big-headed knowledge (super sweet and reminiscent of my own Dad). A parallel (and very effective!!) plot line is provided by the father who relates Homer's tales of Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus using this classic epic plot to accentuate aspects of the actual novel. SO GOOD!
The second part of the novel focuses much more on Leo's coming of age encounters with both a young Italian male and Delores, a fascinating, brilliant, curious, and self-assured American who is studying in Italy. Delores is an incredibly interesting character (perhaps the most interesting in the novel for me).
Can't say enough about this one and I do believe it will BLOW UP and be award-nominated once it hits the shelves in early June. The perfect time for this hot and sunny novel to land. Thank you again!!!
Montrone holds nothing back finding beauty and treasure throughout her family-owned Italian agriturismo where she has spent summers of her life growing up in every way. The hotel is, itself, a character that has gone through many transformations and ages beautifully and effectively along with the characters in the novel. There are mysteries and secrets in the items (even the trash) left behind by guests and the narrator, Leo's (Leonora's), worldview and vision is that of an explorer/detective or, as readers know, a WRITER. She accompanies her very proud and seasoned Nonna Tina on the day-to-day mission of cleaning hotel rooms and we are introduced to her younger brother, Max, and her flawed parents who all change in many ways throughout the course of the novel.
I found this book brilliant in its efficient and effective use of two parts to inform the evolution of these lives (for better and worse) as well as Leo's coming of age and the decline of other characters. It is sexy, wise, and beautifully penned.
Leo's Dad begins as a larger-than-life storyteller and life of the party but there is evidence that more is there than we see. Conversely, Leo's Mom is a self-contained quiet woman prone to sickliness who spends much of her time behind closed doors (seemingly in various states of illness and/or disability). No spoilers here but these dynamics do change as the novel progresses.
Leo's Dad is a professor and obviously very well-learned with a self-proclaimed "degree" of knowing "everything" -- he tests his children so that he can retain all of his big-headed knowledge (super sweet and reminiscent of my own Dad). A parallel (and very effective!!) plot line is provided by the father who relates Homer's tales of Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus using this classic epic plot to accentuate aspects of the actual novel. SO GOOD!
The second part of the novel focuses much more on Leo's coming of age encounters with both a young Italian male and Delores, a fascinating, brilliant, curious, and self-assured American who is studying in Italy. Delores is an incredibly interesting character (perhaps the most interesting in the novel for me).
Can't say enough about this one and I do believe it will BLOW UP and be award-nominated once it hits the shelves in early June. The perfect time for this hot and sunny novel to land. Thank you again!!!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This coming-of-age story is broken down into two parts. The first is about Leo at age ten. She is staying at her family's multi-generational agriturismo over the course of the summer. She is surrounded by her immediate family consisting of her timid younger brother Max, depressed mom, and self-destructive, alcoholic father. This portion explores the inner workings of Leo's young mind as she assists her grandmother in maintaining the hotel during peak summer season. Leo gets brief respite when spending time with her father as he retells the story of Homer's Odyssey. It is not lost on the reader that, as her father lays out the story of Odysseus, there are strong parallels to his own life; ostensibly being absent and choosing drinking instead of being an active member of his family. There is definite underlying manipulation at play.
In this part II we have time jumped and we find Leo, now eighteen, back at the family agriturismo once again. Wherein she meets Dolores. With her buzzed head and men's clothing, Leo is immediately drawn in. Additionally, the latter portion of the significance of The Odyssey continues to carry throughout. There's more focus on Odysseus's son, Telemachus and the aftermath of his father's return. The interspersed narrative about Telemachus provides parallels to Leo's life with her father. As well has her father's relationship with his own father.
With all that being said, there is not much actual plot. There isn't anything propelling the story forward. The large majority of this book is just building atmosphere. While that usually works and is much appreciated, I feel like there was just something missing. Leo just sort of seemed bland and not fully flushed out as a character.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.
In this part II we have time jumped and we find Leo, now eighteen, back at the family agriturismo once again. Wherein she meets Dolores. With her buzzed head and men's clothing, Leo is immediately drawn in. Additionally, the latter portion of the significance of The Odyssey continues to carry throughout. There's more focus on Odysseus's son, Telemachus and the aftermath of his father's return. The interspersed narrative about Telemachus provides parallels to Leo's life with her father. As well has her father's relationship with his own father.
With all that being said, there is not much actual plot. There isn't anything propelling the story forward. The large majority of this book is just building atmosphere. While that usually works and is much appreciated, I feel like there was just something missing. Leo just sort of seemed bland and not fully flushed out as a character.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A coming of age story filled with emotion—tragedy, romance, and self-growth. Nymph is told in two parts: before and after tragedy strikes Leo’s family. At ten years old, Leo holds the universe within herself and sees it reflected in her father. By nineteen, she has lived through something that changes her irrevocably.
In both timelines, Leo is an extraordinary character—one I loved, empathized with, and deeply related to. What I cherished most was witnessing her growth and her gradual journey toward self-discovery. She endures watching a loved one spiral down a devastating path, experiences loss, confronts the aging of her beloved grandmother, and finds love in a space that is fragile and painfully temporary. Yet despite it all, Leo remains resilient, still carrying that universe within her.
I adored the writing. The summery feeling, the atmosphere, the nostalgia woven through every page. Montrone beautifully captures tender, sensitive emotions with prose that is both simple and poetic. The mother–daughter relationship that runs throughout the book is a poignant portrayal of womanhood, and of the love and vulnerability that come with it.
Another aspect I loved was how this book didn’t feel like a book; it felt like life. Things go wrong suddenly, just as they do in reality. Emotions unfold naturally, growth is uneven, and acceptance is never linear. Nymph was a truly moving and enjoyable read, and I sincerely hope to read more from this author.
In both timelines, Leo is an extraordinary character—one I loved, empathized with, and deeply related to. What I cherished most was witnessing her growth and her gradual journey toward self-discovery. She endures watching a loved one spiral down a devastating path, experiences loss, confronts the aging of her beloved grandmother, and finds love in a space that is fragile and painfully temporary. Yet despite it all, Leo remains resilient, still carrying that universe within her.
I adored the writing. The summery feeling, the atmosphere, the nostalgia woven through every page. Montrone beautifully captures tender, sensitive emotions with prose that is both simple and poetic. The mother–daughter relationship that runs throughout the book is a poignant portrayal of womanhood, and of the love and vulnerability that come with it.
Another aspect I loved was how this book didn’t feel like a book; it felt like life. Things go wrong suddenly, just as they do in reality. Emotions unfold naturally, growth is uneven, and acceptance is never linear. Nymph was a truly moving and enjoyable read, and I sincerely hope to read more from this author.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Nymph is a coming of age novel centered on our main character Leo. We follow Leo through key parts of her life, learn her routines, understand her relationships, and watch her grow from a child to a young adult. In true litfic fashion, the meat of this story is in Leo’s relationships and how those experiences define her. I was most intrigued by her relationships with her family. I felt that the themes of grief were narrated equally beautifully and darkly.
While I was originally drawn to this story for the sapphic romance, I found myself underwhelmed by Leo’s relationship with Dolores. I wished I felt their connection stronger, and expected more from their intimacy.
I liked Leo’s quirks, and I grew to enjoy the references of Achilles throughout / as parallels to the relationships in Leo’s life.
All in all, this is a beautiful debut I would recommend for anyone interested in a literary fiction coming of age novel with deep themes of grief, aging and identity.
TW: substance use, mental health, etc.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my first eArc!
While I was originally drawn to this story for the sapphic romance, I found myself underwhelmed by Leo’s relationship with Dolores. I wished I felt their connection stronger, and expected more from their intimacy.
I liked Leo’s quirks, and I grew to enjoy the references of Achilles throughout / as parallels to the relationships in Leo’s life.
All in all, this is a beautiful debut I would recommend for anyone interested in a literary fiction coming of age novel with deep themes of grief, aging and identity.
TW: substance use, mental health, etc.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my first eArc!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5 stars! A lush, beautifully written novel about an Italian-American girl's coming-of-age in the rustic countryside of Italy, which I read in less than 24 hours. This has beautiful prose and imagery, but it is NOT fast-paced and doesn't have a lot of plot. Perfect if you want to luxuriate in beautiful prose, but maybe hold off if you're looking for a ton of plot.
The reason I did not give a full 5 stars: I ended up liking the resolution of the relationship between Leo and her brother Max. But for most of the novel, Max doesn’t do anything and just lingers in the background; he could be cut from the first 80% of the book without making a difference. Also, there was a significant subplot about Leo’s grandma being mysteriously sick— and then it never really got resolved except in a throwaway line.
This is a very impressive debut, and I look forward to reading more from Montrone in the future!
The reason I did not give a full 5 stars: I ended up liking the resolution of the relationship between Leo and her brother Max. But for most of the novel, Max doesn’t do anything and just lingers in the background; he could be cut from the first 80% of the book without making a difference. Also, there was a significant subplot about Leo’s grandma being mysteriously sick— and then it never really got resolved except in a throwaway line.
This is a very impressive debut, and I look forward to reading more from Montrone in the future!
March 21, 2026
Nymph by Sofia Montrone
Beautiful, written from the heart. Such an original voice. I finished reading it while sitting in a salon full of people. I was so immersed that I cried. Leo and Delores warmed my heart.
I enjoyed seeing Leo’s life as she was a child and as she became a young adult. Leo’s life was nothing extraordinary in the grandest of ways, yet it was extraordinary to read her coming-of-age story. This is a five-star read, one I will preorder a hard copy of to cherish and share.
It is full of the happiest moments, the saddest and the most mundane. the most human moments, the ones we keep to ourselves. It’s full of love, loss and pain, hope and longing. I highly recommend this for readers and lovers of literary fiction that works its way into every fiber of your soul.
Thank you, Sofia, for taking the time to write such a masterpiece. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected digital copy.
I just want to hug Leo and Max.
Beautiful, written from the heart. Such an original voice. I finished reading it while sitting in a salon full of people. I was so immersed that I cried. Leo and Delores warmed my heart.
I enjoyed seeing Leo’s life as she was a child and as she became a young adult. Leo’s life was nothing extraordinary in the grandest of ways, yet it was extraordinary to read her coming-of-age story. This is a five-star read, one I will preorder a hard copy of to cherish and share.
It is full of the happiest moments, the saddest and the most mundane. the most human moments, the ones we keep to ourselves. It’s full of love, loss and pain, hope and longing. I highly recommend this for readers and lovers of literary fiction that works its way into every fiber of your soul.
Thank you, Sofia, for taking the time to write such a masterpiece. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected digital copy.
I just want to hug Leo and Max.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
(ARC - out 06/09/26 via Avid Reader Press) I understand the comparisons between this and “Call Me by Your Name” because both are queer coming-of-age stories set in the Italian countryside and both rely so much on vibes as opposed to plot. Nymph follows Leo during two separate summers spent at her family’s agriturismo (a working farm), when she’s ten and when she’s eighteen. We see how her family changes and also witness her fall in love with an american woman. The yearning in this is so good and so is the evocative language. The descriptions of people and places and food and weather really put the reader in the novel. What a great book this would be to read by the water on a hot summer’s day.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I feel like this book is not for me despite my initial interest and comparison to Call Me By Your Name. I don't need to read about a girl sifting through the trash looking at tampons and in another scene she is cleaning excrement from under toilet seats. I get it, 10 year olds are curious but we don't need to write about everything. She spends a lot of time talking about the gross stuff left behind by guests as well as sweaty bodies which took me out of the story as a whole. I was hoping that by Part 2 I would eventually like story and the plot, but sadly I did not connect to this one.
Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I was drawn in to read Nymph by Sofia Montrone from the dreamy cover and this debut novel started off interesting enough but unfortunately fell flat for me. It centres around Leo, who works at her grandmother’s Italian agriturismo and begins a romance with an American girl, Dolores. I liked the seemingly family drama that was unfolding at the start but Leo hardly interacted with her family once she met Dolores. Leo’s longing for more in her life was evident. I really enjoyed the Italy setting and the queer coming of age for Leo. I was left wanting more especially for Leo’s relationships with her brother Max and her grandmother Nonna Tina.
Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for my free advance review copy!
Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for my free advance review copy!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A delectable coming of age story with an amazing main character who has to deal with working for her family, a tragedy that deeply affects her, and a romance with an American. Leo is fascinating and I resonated with her so much as she experienced great tragedy and greater feelings of love as she finds who she really is. So many emotions in this book were so beautifully captured and put into words. The nostalgia of girlhood oozes from every page. I hope I get to read more from this author! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4
setting: Italy
rep: sapphic protagonist
this book is all about the writing and the atmosphere. plotwise, there's not much going on, it's mostly a snapshot of two summers in Leo's life - the first thirty percent of the book follows her at 10 years old; the remaining seventy percent follows her at 19. the writing is gorgeous and the atmosphere is excellent. I can totally understand the comp to call me by your name. 8 haven't read Elena ferrante so can't speak to that comp but if her books read like this then I'm sure to enjoy them
setting: Italy
rep: sapphic protagonist
this book is all about the writing and the atmosphere. plotwise, there's not much going on, it's mostly a snapshot of two summers in Leo's life - the first thirty percent of the book follows her at 10 years old; the remaining seventy percent follows her at 19. the writing is gorgeous and the atmosphere is excellent. I can totally understand the comp to call me by your name. 8 haven't read Elena ferrante so can't speak to that comp but if her books read like this then I'm sure to enjoy them
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Beautiful coming of age story. Captures so fantastically how it feels to be a teenager with no sense of self, fully believing that every aspect of oneself is stolen or passed on from other people, and how jarring it is for others to point out that this is not the case. The tug of war between Leo's duty to her family and her desire is excruciating, and all the better for its subtlety - most of the melodrama in this book takes place entirely in Leo's head. Oh to ruminate for an entire summer over a beautiful futch
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
3.75*
absolutely stunning writing—if you like a slower paced book that takes you back to nostalgic summers, this is for you. there’s essentially no plot, rather we’re taken through leo’s life, focusing on her relationship with others and how events shape her; however, what makes this character study impactful are the woven greek myths. at some point, we all read these stories that teach us about resilience and consequences, so with the before and after of leo’s family tragedy, this book, at its heart, is contemplative.
many thanks to the publisher for the netgalley epub!
absolutely stunning writing—if you like a slower paced book that takes you back to nostalgic summers, this is for you. there’s essentially no plot, rather we’re taken through leo’s life, focusing on her relationship with others and how events shape her; however, what makes this character study impactful are the woven greek myths. at some point, we all read these stories that teach us about resilience and consequences, so with the before and after of leo’s family tragedy, this book, at its heart, is contemplative.
many thanks to the publisher for the netgalley epub!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Very sweet and similar to Call Me By Your Name but without the creepy age gap. Although the book was poetically beautiful, honestly I did find the language made me skim and get a bit bored and lost. I also have a lot of unanswered questions and I'm not sure if that is on purpose by the author or because I missed something. I did like how the meaning of Nymph was described and how that tied into the book.
2.5 stars rounded up... would cautiously recommend
2.5 stars rounded up... would cautiously recommend
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book is beautifully written. The prose, the atmosphere, I felt like I was in the mountains of Italy. It truly is beautiful. You’re there beside Leo, Max, their parents, and grandmother. Personally, I could’ve used a little more character development. I felt like there were a few places where little bit more detail would have been welcomed but overall this is absolutely beautiful. I would love a second book in the series but we’ll definitely read whatever else this author writes.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I enjoyed this, it’s a beautifully written and atmospheric coming of age story that follows 10 year old Leo whose parents own an Agriturismo in Northern Italy. We get to know her younger brother, chronically depressed mother, and her charismatic but alcoholic father who tells her stories from the Iliad and Odyssey. The second half jumps ahead 8 years when another girl, Dolores, comes to work with them for the summer.
While it is undeniably well written and immersive, it’s pretty light on plot, focusing more on Leo’s internal world. It did capture the feeling of being 18 and all the anxieties and struggles that come with leaving childhood behind.
This would be a great summer read for literary fans.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.
While it is undeniably well written and immersive, it’s pretty light on plot, focusing more on Leo’s internal world. It did capture the feeling of being 18 and all the anxieties and struggles that come with leaving childhood behind.
This would be a great summer read for literary fans.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
an atmospheric coming of age story with a stunning sense of place, a beautiful queer romance, and lyrical writing. nymph is a novel to savor. i already wish i could experience the vibrant italian summers and leo’s complex inner world for the first time again.
thank you to the publisher for the ARC!
thank you to the publisher for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Beautifully written sapphic coming of age story set in the countryside of Italy, I was completely immersed in the scenery. It's slower paced, but I couldn't put it down! This is the perfect summer read!
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
*well-written, easy to read
*strong character development
*kept my interest from cover to cover
*highly recommend
*strong character development
*kept my interest from cover to cover
*highly recommend
March 2, 2026
3.5 - very ferrante meets ‘call me by your name’ vibe but felt like I was missing the character development that I wanted
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Slow, contemplative, and atmospheric, Nymph is a novel that luxuriates in its setting.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
March 4, 2026
DNF @ 45%
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