Broadstairs is a charming town on the English coast where Aaron works as an apprentice in the historic ice-cream shop Morelli. He lives in symbiosis with Anja, his depressed and over-protective mother who hides his father's identity and tells him nothing about Zagreb, the city they fled when he was just a little boy. Luckily, his best friend Gennarino is a volcano of joy, coloring the grayness of Anja's melancholy with his optimism.
As for Aaron, he has learned to be happy with little. All he needs is the flavor of tangerine ice cream, his lonely walks by the steep cliffs overlooking the sea, and the conversations with Crystal, the girl he loves. They met each other online and their relationship has been going on for just over a year, but it is only virtual. Every time he tries to arrange a meeting in real life, she finds a thousand excuses to postpone. And yet, Aaron prefers her incomplete presence to the pain of being alone.
Until an unexpected event changes everything. Aaron receives a letter from a notary in Croatia informing him about the death of his father, whose identity was kept hidden from him his entire life. Furthermore, the missive also invites him to Zagreb to attend the reading of the deceased's last will and testament, annexing an interrail ticket to cover the journey.
Ill-equipped and unprepared for life, Aaron faces his little odyssey in search of truth with courage. He travels from the United Kingdom to Zagreb passing through Hamburg, Prague, Ljubljana, Bratislava, and Szentgotthárd, finally confronting the world. He will face challenges, risks, and temptations, as well as unexpected encounters and immense beauty.
Nicola Lecca creates a thrilling contemporary fairytale with his chiseled and clear writing style. The innocence of the protagonist, whose pockets are filled with nothing but dreams, generates brilliant pages characterized by the disarming purity of a naked gaze: he is capable of shedding light on the world's complexity, highlighting the paradoxes of online relationships and the hypocrisy of the many traps set up to take advantage of our various kinds of loneliness.