Description
Book Synopsis''A groundbreaking, earthquaking vision, a story and a manifesto, and a literary performance so energetic it almost demands to be read aloud'' Guardian
''To love, to sacrifice oneself, and to submit! Was this what all women were destined for?''
When her carefree, aspirational childhood in a seaside town is brought brutally to an end, the nameless narrator of Sibilla Aleramo''s blazing autobiographical novel discovers the shocking reality of life for a woman in Italy at the dawn of the twentieth century. As she begins to recognize the similarities between her own predicament and the plight of her mother and the women around her, she becomes convinced that she must escape her fate. Unashamed and remarkably ahead of its time, A Woman is a landmark in European feminist writing.
''Aleramo was ahead of her time'' Times Literary Supplement
Trade ReviewA
groundbreaking,
earthquaking vision, a story and a manifesto, and a literary performance so
energetic it almost demands to be read aloud . . . Readers who like to underline striking passages will need to keep their pencils sharp -- John Self * Guardian *
What makes
A Woman stand out is the rawness of its story ... and the fact that
Aleramo was ahead of her time -- Caroline Moorehead * TLS *
Searing . . .
astonishingly sharp . . . such a
modern book it's hard to believe it was written more than 100 years ago -- Laura Waddell * Scotsman *
She blurred the boundaries of autobiography and the novel, singular self and narrative other -- Selby Wynn Schwartz
The first Italian feminist novel ... her voice brings us back to the present, with the dose of courage needed to freely choose one's destiny * La Repubblica *
Powerful -- Luigi Pirandello
