Nicky Pellegrino has described her new book as her most dramatic and moving novel, which is probably quite apt given the world at the moment and drama and disruption around its initial launch.

Originally set to be released in March, Pellegrino's twelfth novel, Tiny Pieces of Us, sees the recipient of a heart transplant drawn into a quest by the mother of the donor to find everyone else that received organ donations from her son. 

It is a change from Pellegrino's past novels of food, feuds, family and love in Italy inspired by her childhood holidays spent in her father’s home town of Naples.

Four months after the book was originally set to be released, Pellegrino joins Francesca Rudkin to discuss the shift from writing about Italy, her inspiration for talking about organ donation, and getting through lockdown.

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