YOUR LITTLE MATTER
Rome 1965. A man and a woman, excluded from Italian society, abandon their eight month old daughter in the Villa Borghese and take extreme action. In 2021, that child, author Maria Grazia Calandrone, sets out to discover the truth of what took place, examining the places that her mother lived, suffered, worked and loved.
Your Little Matter is an intimate reconstruction of the life of a parent, a shocking insight into the real lives of marginalised women from the Italian South in the relatively recent past, and the revelation of a cause celebre that was a catalyst for the legalisation of divorce in Italy. Combining poetic insight with cool, journalistic investigation, the completely personal with the very public, the book tells a devastating story of how the institutionalised callousness of state and society can lead to tragedy.
"The extraordinary book ... spent weeks on the Italian bestseller lists and was shortlisted for the country’s top literary prize, the Strega. Just as Elena Ferrante’s Naples Quartet revealed the harsh reality of life for young women in Italy’s poorer regions, Calandrone’s memoir gives an unsparing view of the brutal treatment of women in desperate times that resonated powerfully with readers." Clare Longrigg, THE GUARDIAN
“Your Little Matter is an iridescent book about an Italian daughter reconstructing her mother. Calandrone's prose is tender and unflinching, poetic yet at times biting in its clarity. I adored this book. It felt to me like the call of a lost sister.” Molly Aitken, Author of BRIGHT I BURN
Your Little Matter was shortlisted for the 2023 Premio Strega.
Rome 1965. A man and a woman, excluded from Italian society, abandon their eight month old daughter in the Villa Borghese and take extreme action. In 2021, that child, author Maria Grazia Calandrone, sets out to discover the truth of what took place, examining the places that her mother lived, suffered, worked and loved.
Your Little Matter is an intimate reconstruction of the life of a parent, a shocking insight into the real lives of marginalised women from the Italian South in the relatively recent past, and the revelation of a cause celebre that was a catalyst for the legalisation of divorce in Italy. Combining poetic insight with cool, journalistic investigation, the completely personal with the very public, the book tells a devastating story of how the institutionalised callousness of state and society can lead to tragedy.
"The extraordinary book ... spent weeks on the Italian bestseller lists and was shortlisted for the country’s top literary prize, the Strega. Just as Elena Ferrante’s Naples Quartet revealed the harsh reality of life for young women in Italy’s poorer regions, Calandrone’s memoir gives an unsparing view of the brutal treatment of women in desperate times that resonated powerfully with readers." Clare Longrigg, THE GUARDIAN
“Your Little Matter is an iridescent book about an Italian daughter reconstructing her mother. Calandrone's prose is tender and unflinching, poetic yet at times biting in its clarity. I adored this book. It felt to me like the call of a lost sister.” Molly Aitken, Author of BRIGHT I BURN
Your Little Matter was shortlisted for the 2023 Premio Strega.
Rome 1965. A man and a woman, excluded from Italian society, abandon their eight month old daughter in the Villa Borghese and take extreme action. In 2021, that child, author Maria Grazia Calandrone, sets out to discover the truth of what took place, examining the places that her mother lived, suffered, worked and loved.
Your Little Matter is an intimate reconstruction of the life of a parent, a shocking insight into the real lives of marginalised women from the Italian South in the relatively recent past, and the revelation of a cause celebre that was a catalyst for the legalisation of divorce in Italy. Combining poetic insight with cool, journalistic investigation, the completely personal with the very public, the book tells a devastating story of how the institutionalised callousness of state and society can lead to tragedy.
"The extraordinary book ... spent weeks on the Italian bestseller lists and was shortlisted for the country’s top literary prize, the Strega. Just as Elena Ferrante’s Naples Quartet revealed the harsh reality of life for young women in Italy’s poorer regions, Calandrone’s memoir gives an unsparing view of the brutal treatment of women in desperate times that resonated powerfully with readers." Clare Longrigg, THE GUARDIAN
“Your Little Matter is an iridescent book about an Italian daughter reconstructing her mother. Calandrone's prose is tender and unflinching, poetic yet at times biting in its clarity. I adored this book. It felt to me like the call of a lost sister.” Molly Aitken, Author of BRIGHT I BURN
Your Little Matter was shortlisted for the 2023 Premio Strega.
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Country of Origin: ITALY
Author: MARIA GRAZIA CALANDRONE
Translation: ANTONELLA LETTIERI