Accabadora

Praise for Accabadora

"Set in 1950s Sardinia, Murgia's lovely English-language debut…[is] a touching meditation on life and death and the power of love to bind, transcend, and let go."—Publishers Weekly

"The result is an eloquent meditation on the role of death in a community. Accabadora, the winner of several Italian literary prizes, is concerned not only with the bonds between life and death, but also with what it costs to sever them."—Booklist

“With its remarkable and timeless portrait of village life in Sardinia circa 1950, Accabadora tells the story of a young girl adopted by a remarkable woman who stands at the threshold of life and death. Poignant, honest, and magical, this is a dazzling story for the senses, and one I will not soon forget.” —Susan Sherman, author of The Little Russian

Michela Murgia was born in Cabras, Sardinia, in 1972 and has worked as a religious studies teacher, a timeshare saleswoman and an administrator in a power plant. Accabadora establishes her alongside Marcello Fois and Davide Longo at the forefront of a recent renaissance in Italian fiction.

Silvester Mazzarella is a translator of Italian and Swedish literature. He learned English from his mother, Italian from his father, and Swedish while teaching at the University of Helsinki. He now lives in Canterbury.