Oliva Denaro

Guilt and the desire to be free in a novel of poignant beauty. ‘I don’t know if I’m in favour of marriage. That’s why I always walk quickly down the street: men’s breath is like the blast of a bellows that has hands and can touch your flesh.’ After Il treno dei bambini (The Children’s Train), Viola Ardone returns with an intense coming-of-age story. It is the story of a girl who wants to be free in an era when being born a woman is a sentence. An enchanting female character who is impossible not to love. A relationship between father and daughter observed with a delicacy and depth that are deeply moving.