A Sister's Story: Natalie Portman's book club pick (July 2022)

Description

FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF A GIRL RETURNED It's the darkest time of night. Adriana, a baby in her arms, hammers on her sister's door. Who is she running from? What uncomfortable truth will she deliver? Like a whirlwind, Adriana breaks into her sister's life bringing chaos and cataclysmic revelations. Years later, the narrator gets an unexpected, urgent summons back to Pescara. She embarks on a long journey through the night, and through the folds and twists of her memory, from her and her sister's youth, their loves and losses, their secrets and regrets. Back in Borgo Sud, the town's fishermen's quarter, in that impenetrable yet welcoming microcosm, she will discover what really happened, and perhaps make peace with the past. Donatella Di Pietrantonio, expert chronicler of the bonds between mothers and daughters, revisits the places and characters of A Girl Returned with a novel focussed on the ambivalent, ambiguous, wavering but steadfast relationship between sisters.

Born in Abruzzo, Donatella Di Pietrantonio completed her studies in the provincial capital, Aquila, and now lives in Penne. Her short fiction has been published by Granta Italy, and her novel, Bella mia, was nominated for the Strega Prize and won the Brancati Prize. A Girl Returned, her third novel, won the Campiello Prize. Ann Goldstein is one of the most accomplished translators from the Italian working today. Best known for her translations of Elena Ferrante's oeuvre, she has also translated novels by Primo Levi, Pierpaolo Pasolini, Alessandro Baricco and other classic and contemporary Italian writers.

"This book is wonderful - a super touching story of two sisters who mother themselves out of a curse and who are in and out of a complicated relationship with each other." * Natalie Portman (July 2022 book club pick) * "Di Pietrantonio has a lively way with a phrase (the translator, Ann Goldstein, shows the same sensitivity she does with Elena Ferrante) and a fine instinct for detail." * Washington Post on A Girl Returned * "A piercing examination of dysfunctional family relationships that centers on sororal breaks and bonds." * Shelf Awareness * "Intimate and sharp." * Il Foglio * "Di Pietrantonio's gift for storytelling is sustained by the understated poetry of her language." * The Skinny * "It moves fluidly between the past and the present." * The New Yorker * "A true jewel." * Huffington Post (Italy) * "A Sister's Story carries the same message of the greatest Italian literature of the 20th century, from Elsa Morante to Primo Levi, a message at once tragic and hopeful--that, while suffering may be an inevitable part of life, we can choose not to let it define us." * La Repubblica *