Family born again
A teenage girl is suddenly returned to the birth family she has never known in an intense English-language debut from Italian author Donatella Di Pietrantonio. A tale of responsibilities and traumatic rebirth, L’Arminuta (English language title: A Girl Returned) scooped up the coveted Campiello Prize in Italy, marking Di Pietrantonio as a major talent. Discover phenomenal new translated fiction in today’s event.
Donatella Di Pietrantonio having crafted her writing skills from the age of nine, Di Pietrantonio published her first novel My Mother Is a River in Italy in 2011, where it won the Tropea and the John Fante literary prizes. Her follow-up, 2013’s Bella Mia, was equally well-received and collected the Brancati Prize in 2014.
Di Pietrantonio’s third novel, A Girl Returned – marks the English-language debut of this extraordinary literary talent. It has been translated by Ann Goldstein, one of the most accomplished translators working in Italy today.
Without warning or a word of explanation, an unnamed 13-year-old girl is sent away from the family she has always thought of as hers to live with her birth family: a large, chaotic assortment of individuals whom she has never met and who seem anything but welcoming. Thus begins a new life; one of struggle, conflict – especially between the young girl and her mother – and deprivation. Set against the stark, beautiful landscape of Abruzzo in central Italy, this is a compelling story about mothers and daughters, about responsibility, siblings, and caregiving.
For more information please visit: www.edbookfest.co.uk