In this captivating English-language debut, three generations of women must face their secrets and regrets when an old family curse awakens.
There has always been tension in “the blind house,” where Valentina lives with her mother and grandmother in the Italian countryside. Valentina’s pious grandmother often hints at a family curse, while Valentina’s mother scoffs at superstition; it’s one of the battlegrounds on which they fight to control Valentina’s upbringing.
But in the summer of 1996, when Valentina is twelve, she gets her period for the first time—and the curse suddenly becomes frighteningly real. Blood leaks from the walls; the house and farm are overrun with frogs; the kitchen crawls with flies. Valentina is certain that she has brought catastrophe to her house and its inhabitants.
In this propulsive coming-of-age novel, of mother-daughter relationships and painful family legacies, Valentina is forever changed by the events of one terrifying summer.
Genre: Literary Fiction
There has always been tension in “the blind house,” where Valentina lives with her mother and grandmother in the Italian countryside. Valentina’s pious grandmother often hints at a family curse, while Valentina’s mother scoffs at superstition; it’s one of the battlegrounds on which they fight to control Valentina’s upbringing.
But in the summer of 1996, when Valentina is twelve, she gets her period for the first time—and the curse suddenly becomes frighteningly real. Blood leaks from the walls; the house and farm are overrun with frogs; the kitchen crawls with flies. Valentina is certain that she has brought catastrophe to her house and its inhabitants.
In this propulsive coming-of-age novel, of mother-daughter relationships and painful family legacies, Valentina is forever changed by the events of one terrifying summer.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"An elegant and haunting story of feminine chaos and self-possession. Francesca Manfredi's prose, in Ekin Oklap's translation, is piercing and full of dark, honest wit." - Catherine Lacey
"In Francesca Manfredi's intense, mesmerizing novel, cosmic forces intersect with the domestic life of a girl and her mother and grandmother. With deceptively simple sentences, Manfredi brilliantly evokes the deep mysteries that lurk within everyday interactions. I couldn't put this book down." - Helen Phillips
"In Francesca Manfredi's intense, mesmerizing novel, cosmic forces intersect with the domestic life of a girl and her mother and grandmother. With deceptively simple sentences, Manfredi brilliantly evokes the deep mysteries that lurk within everyday interactions. I couldn't put this book down." - Helen Phillips
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