The Sevilla Mendoza family, long-time residents of the Sardinian coast, are not quite what you'd call `conventional'. At the heart of the family is a young teenage girl in the throes of a dangerous affair with a married man. With a nervous mother, a dreamer for a father and an obsessive piano player for a little brother, she finds herself living a double life: one as a good daughter, the other on an erotic journey that will change her forever. While the Shark is Sleeping is an enchanting story of the loss of innocence and the desire to be loved.

Milena Agus is a bestselling Italian writer. Born in Genoa in 1959, she now lives in Cagliari, Sardinia, where she teaches Italian and history at a secondary school. The author of nine novels, Agus is the recipient of several literary awards, including the prestigious Zerilli-Marimo prize in New York. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages.