A story of emigration and war, for a journey of individual growth. The protagonist is Maria, a young girl from Belluno eager to study, but forced, by the difficult economic conditions of her land and the poverty that grips her family, to leave her home, her friends and the town of which she knows every stone and almost every inhabitant to go to work “under master”.
We are at the end of the thirties. Maria is twelve years old and from that moment she begins her journey between Padua, Rome and Milan, working as a maid in the homes of the rich, to help her parents and brothers. In the background of Maria’s trajectory, the Second World War, which first advances and then comes to life, and into everyone’s lives.
In this context, the intelligent and lively girl from Belluno, who has always been driven by the desire to learn, will be forced to learn first-hand the difficulties of emigration, the need to obey, to bow one’s head, to be humble. An inevitable sacrifice which, however, amidst hardships and obstacles, will lead Maria to mature, become independent and gain her freedom.
Maria’s story, inspired by similar stories of Tina Merlin and Angela Dal Pont, is told in the new book by Vichi De Marchi Call me Juliet (Feltrinelli, 2024). Book that will be presented on May 24th in Belluno in an event organized by the Tina Merlin cultural association and the Bellunesi nel Mondo Association, in collaboration with the “Dino Buzzati” Migration Library.
Appointment at the Abm headquarters (via Cavour 3, in Belluno), at 6:00 pm. They will dialogue with the author Adriana Lotto, president of the Tina Merlin cultural association, Patrizia Burigo, president of the management committee of the Migration Library, and Marnie Campagnaro, teacher of literature for children and adolescents at the FISPPA Department of University of Padua.
The author
Vichi De Marchi was born in Venice and lives in Rome. You are a journalist, you have written for TV, newspapers, weeklies and have worked for a long time for the United Nations. Her books have received numerous awards, a mention in the Andersen prize and inclusion in the top five for the 2016 Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi prize.
Her biographies of female scientists, including My life among gorillas And Girls with numberswritten with the popularizer Roberta Fulci, have been translated in many countries.
Among his most recent novels, The street masters (Einaudi Ragazzi, 2018) won the Procida award – The world saved by children, while Born in Hiroshima (De Agostini, 2020) won the Città di Castello award.
Free admission.
For more information:
Tel. 0437 941160
email: [email protected]
Click HERE to view the event poster.
