Armīnutā (Bāzgashtah): Persiska (Farsi) 1401

Some novels touch such deep, original chords that they seem to call us by name. This is what happens with L'Arminuta from the first page, when the protagonist, with a suitcase in one hand and a bag of shoes in the other, rings the bell at an unknown door. To open up about her, about her sister Adriana, her wrinkled eyes, her undone braids: they have never been seen before her. Thus begins this explosive and enchanting story: with a little girl who loses everything overnight - a comfortable home, her closest friends, and the unconditional affection of her parents. Or rather, of those whom she believed to be her parents. For "l'Arminuta" (the returnee), as her companions call her, a new and very different life begins. The house is small and dark, there are brothers everywhere and little food on the table. But there is Adriana, who shares the bed with her. And there is Vincenzo, who looks at her as if she were already a woman. And in that restless, shrewd look, she can perhaps lose herself and begin to find herself. The acceptance of a double abandonment is possible only by returning to the source of oneself. Donatella Di Pietrantonio knows the words to say it, and she addresses the theme of motherhood, responsibility, and care, from an original perspective and with a rare expressive intensity. It is enough for her to listen to her land, to that little-known, rough, and harsh Abruzzo, which suddenly lights up with the reflection of the sea.