“Aqua was like going on a great adventure to unknown parts, but with a woman companion who helped me see many things from a new perspective. Water of course isn’t only water, it is life itself; and so what begins as a research of the Mulholland project diverting water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles held aloft by successive meetings with a Hollywood Director held me fascinated until the very end” --Francis Ford Coppola

”Aqua is a great American road-trip book as Lolita is a great American road-trip book. (Why are our best road-trip books written by non-Americans, I wonder?) What Barzini has accomplished here is nothing short of visionary. Nothing short of ecstasy, too. A remarkable work” --Lili Anolik 

“An original and remarkable journey across a fading West and its unpredictable waters, filled with surprises, humour, and grit. Barzini does an impeccable job at drawing parallels between America’s dying empire and the end of ancient Rome” --Gay Talese

“Reverie and road-trip, Aqua succeeds in turning the Cadillac Desert and Land of Little Rain into something lush and unexpected … Chiara Barzini ducts and dives through a wonderful and revelatory journey” --Geoff Dyer

“From uncanny to metaphysical, the ‘nature’ of Los Angeles has become increasingly political. With her fluid narrative movements, Chiara Barzini evokes the infinite prophecies of a city” --Claudia Durastanti