September 11, 2015 – On the train to Rome there’s a little girl, alone and on the run, after a violent quarrel with her classmates. Her father, Giose, was a meteor of punk-rock music from the 1980s who fell in love with Christian, a young Latin teacher. The exuberant and affectionate father, who gave up singing for his family, is shaken by the sudden death of his companion and is considered an unsuitable guardian for Eva. Giose moves to a farmhouse in the Apennines, and Eva ends up under the custody of an uncle and moves to Milan. They don’t see each other for a long time but never stop looking. With Giose, Eva travels Italy on a journey to figure out herself, her two fathers, and the feelings that unite people beyond roles and laws: a daughter, two fathers, a normal family. This is “Sei come sei,” an adventure novel by Melania Mazzucco (Einaudi, 2013, 235 p.). The writer tells the love between a father and a daughter, different from everyone else yet the same as everyone else, with grace, emotion and tenderness. The book has now been translated into Swedish (“Du är som är du”), and the author – on Monday, September 28 at 6pm – will be at the Italian Cultural Institute “CM Lerici” in Stockholm alongside her publisher Contempo and Lerici Foundation. Melania Mazzucco’s novels have been translated in 24 languages. (PO / red)
