Susanna Tamaro’s writing has deeply affected people throughout the world. Though her voice is unique and her stories firmly rooted in her native Italy, the power of her words and her understanding of human lives are universal. In 1994 her novel Follow Your Heart, was published to wide critical acclaim: “Apart from the perfect characterization and compelling narrative, the writing is a joy to savour, leaving you unable to do anything except to read on.”

In Rispondimi, Susanna Tamaro has written three beautiful, thematically related novellas set in contemporary Italy. They portray lives shaped by the tyranny of family, the unpredictable consequences of love, and the fragile hope of redemption: a young woman, trapped by circumstance, teeters on the brink of an abyss; a middle-aged widow, consumed by her hatred of her dead husband, glimpses a possibility of salvation; a guilty father seeks renewal in his daughter’s forgiveness.

Incisive, insightful, forcefully written, and thoroughly convincing, Rispondimi confirms Susanna Tamaro’s place as an international writer for our age. Readers will not easily forget the haunting power of this new work.



From the Hardcover edition.