{"title":"Fausta Cialente","description":"\u003cp\u003eFausta Cialente’s works immerse readers in rich, evocative narratives that explore the depths of human experience with subtlety and grace. Her storytelling often weaves together atmospheric settings and nuanced characters, inviting reflection on personal and social themes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn novels like \u003cem\u003eA Very Cold Winter\u003c\/em\u003e, Cialente captures the emotional intricacies of general fiction with a quiet intensity. Readers can expect thoughtful, literary prose that lingers long after the final page is turned.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"a-very-cold-winter-by-fausta-cialente-9798893380231","title":"A Very Cold Winter","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Cause for celebration.' — Jhumpa Lahiri\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA novel of secrets and female solidarity set in post-war Milan, by one of Italy's most significant women writers.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFausta Cialente (1898–1994) was a novelist, journalist, political activist, and one of the first self-declared feminist Italian writers. Though the fascists censored her early work, she continued as an active member in the anti-fascist movement while living abroad in Egypt, writing pamphlets and making daily broadcasts from Radio Cairo against the Italian regime. She returned home after the war and eventually began publishing again, winning Italy's most important literary award, the Strega Prize, in 1976.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eA Very Cold Winter\u003c\/i\u003e, it is 1946 and Milan is in ruins. A woman named Camilla opens her illegally occupied attic to her extended family as they rebuild their lives among the rubble. The absence of men—lost to war, death, or abandonment—leaves the burden of survival to the women, who use the attic to incubate fragile futures: Camilla works to carry the family toward dignity and normalcy; Lalla dreams of becoming a novelist to escape their grim reality; Regina, widowed by the war, pins her hopes on her infant daughter; Alba chases independence and love. Varying political ideologies, loyalties, and wartime secrets filter through the house, creating a thick net of tension. As the narrative roams from the thoughts of character to character, the residents of this 'hotel for the poor' consider their own complicity and moral compromises, wondering if they're able to escape the weight of what they've lived through.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFausta Cialente's exquisite prose captures the frailty of the human heart in its desperate search for connection. An introduction from author and Italian translator Claudia Durastanti frames this classic feminist icon for the modern American reader. Tender, thought-provoking, and devastatingly beautiful, \u003ci\u003eA Very Cold Winter\u003c\/i\u003e is about the impossibility of forgetting the past and the difficulty of living with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47605104378092,"sku":"9798893380231","price":54.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/36eec6560262b53d98f6867122a42b20.jpg?v=1788153831"},{"product_id":"a-very-cold-winter-by-fausta-cialente-9781398564039","title":"A Very Cold Winter","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Very Cold Winter\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel of secrets and female solidarity set in post-war Milan, by one of Italy’s most significant women writers. Translated by Julia Nelsen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is 1946 and Milan is in ruins. Camilla opens her illegally occupied attic to her extended family as they rebuild their lives among the rubble. The absence of men—lost to war, death, or abandonment—leaves the burden of survival to the women, who use the attic to begin to imagine fragile futures: Camilla works to carry the family toward dignity and normalcy; Lalla dreams of becoming a novelist to escape their grim reality; Regina, widowed by the war, pins her hopes on her infant daughter; Alba chases independence and love. Varying political ideologies, loyalties, and wartime secrets filter through the house, creating a thick net of tension.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFausta Cialente’s exquisite prose captures the frailty of the human heart in its desperate search for connection. As the narrative roams from the thoughts of character to character, the residents of the attic consider their own complicity and moral compromises. Tender, thought-provoking, and devastatingly beautiful, \u003ci\u003eA Very Cold Winter\u003c\/i\u003e is about the impossibility of forgetting the past and the difficulty of living with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘Cause for celebration’\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cb\u003eJhumpa Lahiri\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Very Cold Winter\u003c\/i\u003e is Fausta Cialente’s interpretation of war, family, and womanhood… What does it take to be timeless but never outdated? This is the mystery and balance which Fausta Cialente’s novel treads. The Italian women writers that mean so much to us today—Ginzburg, de Céspedes, Lalla Romano, Fabrizia Ramondino—are not modern because we wish them to be. The reason why their work, so easily dismissed and neglected at that time, is startlingly current is because they were not afraid to imagine womanhood fully on the page, with all its consequences \u003cb\u003eClaudia Durastanti\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eA Very Cold Winter\u003c\/i\u003e contends with what it means to move on in the aftermath of war’ \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘An exquisite chronicle of frozen hearts and their gradual thaw’ \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67633404641516,"sku":"9781398564039","price":28.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781398564039-a-very-cold-winter-1.jpg?v=1791162268"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/fausta-cialente.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}